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CAPTAIN  MARTIN  PRING 

LAST  OF  THE  ELIZABETHAN  SEAMEN 

cADDRESS  <BY 

"PROF.  c4LFRED  L,  ^,  DENNIS 


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MONUMENT  TO  MARTIN   PRING 
St.   Stephens  Church,  Bristol,  England 


CAPTAIN  MARTIN  PRING,  LAST  OF  THE 
ELIZABETHAN  SEAMEN 

BY  PROF.  ALFBED  L.  P.  DENNIS 

A  paper  read  on  November  19,  1903,  b^ore  the  Maine  Historical 

Society  at  a  meeting  commemorative  of  the  te")- centenary  qf 

Martin  Fringes  first  voyage  to  America 

In  the  year  1603,  Captain  Martin  Pring  of  Bristol, 

England,  sailed  westward  to  this  coast   and,  after 

spending  some  weeks  in  Whitson  Bay,  now  Plymouth 

^  Harbor  in  Massachusetts,  returned  to  England  with  a 

>.  shipload  of  sassafras.     By  many  students  this  voyage 

^  has  been  remarked  chiefly  because  seventeen  years 

3  later  the  Mayflower,  driven  from  her  course  by  storms, 

dropped  anchor  in  the  same  waters  where  formerly 

-^  Captain   Pring   had   found   both   safety   and   profit. 

g  Such  lovers  of  coincidence  have  sought  to  give  to 

Captain  Pring's  achievement  merely  an  introductory 

,  character,  to  credit  him  with  sagacity  in  the  choice  of 

"  a  harbor  only  because  other  men  of  wider  fame  were 

g  later  compelled  by  the  will  of  the  winds  to  the  same 

J2  harbor.     In  short  these  Greek  givers  would  notice 

S  and  praise  Captain  Pring  for  something  he   could 

neither  help  nor  hinder,  and  thus  would  bury  his 

rightful  glory  beneath  borrowed  laurels  ;  by  so  doing 


< 


44912S 


they  in  reality  deny  him  substantive  value  and  make 
his  fame  a  poor  ex  post  facto  affair,  at  the  mercy  of 
every  judicial  reader. 

Such  unearned  honors  and  such  unnecessary  claims 
to  notice,  Captain  Pring  himself  v^ould  be  the  first  to 
reject ;  for  he  could  vv^ell  cite  better  title  to  commem- 
oration than  mere  coincidence.  This  better  title  is  to 
be  found  in  the  record  of  his  life  work,  and  that 
not  only  because  of  what  he  did  but  also  because  his 
career  is  itself  a  mirror  to  his  times,  because  in  him 
are  displayed  the  working  of  forces  which  were  to 
give  substance  and  character  to  the  course  of  English 
history. 

I  feel  the  readier  to  recall  to  your  minds  the  story 
of  his  life,  as  far  as  it  can  be  known  to-day,  because 
from  your  vantage  ground  you  have  already  seen  the 
truth  of  my  contention.  To  declare  the  honor  of 
Martin  Pring  by  a  commemorative  meeting  is  proof 
that  this  Society  is  fulfilling  those  functions,  both 
delightful  and  valuable,  which  especially  pertain  to 
an  association  by  name  singular  yet  by  interests  uni- 
versal. For  it  is  the  good  fortune  of  such  societies 
to  stand  where  the  path  broadens  to  the  highway,  to 
point  the  traveller  down  the  country  lane  to  the  ham- 
let whose  life  will  show  the  deep  rootages  of  ancient 
custom  and  local  habit,  or  to  give  him  direction  along 
the  avenue  where  a  new  nation  has  but  just  passed. 
Such  a  position  accommodates  itself  to  the  story  I 
have  to  tell  of  a  man  by  whom  small  matters  were 
well  ordered  and  brought  forth,  yet  who  on  occasion 
was  able  to  effect  those  greater  deeds  which  enrich 


the  memory  and  enliven  the  hope  of  our  inherited 
history.  I  shall  speak  to  you  this  evening  of  Captain 
Martin  Pring,  last  of  the  Elizabethan  seamen,  adven- 
turer in  both  hemispheres  for  the  glory  and  gain  of 
England.^ 


I. 

First,  however,  I  must  speak  of  the  England  which 
gave  birth  to  Martin  Pring,  of  the  manner  of  men  he 
had  for  his  example,  of  their  purpose  and  endeavor 
made  evident  in  action  and  of  the  spirit  which  must 
have  been  bred  in  him  by  the  events  of  his  time,  that 
we  may   the  better  judge  how  well  this  Benjamin, 

» BiBLiOGBAPHiCAL  Note.  The  materials  for  this  paper  are  much  scattered.  We 
have  brief  records  made  either  by  Captain  Pring  or  by  some  scribe  at  his  direction  of 
the  voyage  to  America  in  1603  and  of  voyages  to  the  East  Indies  in  1614  and  1617.  To 
reinforce  and  check  these  we  have  also  several  notices  in  contemporary  sources, 
to  wit,  for  the  first  American  voyage  a  summary  statement  by  Purchas  and  a  bare 
record  preserved  by  Captain  John  Smith  of  Robert  Salterne's  short  relation  of  the 
same.  For  the  Guiana  voyage  in  1604  there  exist  a  letter  of  Charles  Leigh  to  his 
brother,  Sir  Olive  Leigh,  and  the  relation  of  Master  John  Wilson,  who  was  also  con- 
cerned in  that  unfortunate  venture.  The  character  of  the  second  American  voyage 
(1606)  is  explained  by  letters  and  a  narration  of  Captain  Challons,  who  was  to  have 
been  Pring's  partner  in  colonization  on  that  occasion,  by  writings  of  Sir  Ferdinando 
Gorges,  by  Strachey  in  his  "  Historie  of  Travaile  into  Virginia  "  and  by  the  "  Brief 
Relation  of  the  President  and  Council  for  New  England,"  published  in  1622.  The 
story  of  Pring's  services  in  the  employ  of  the  East  India  Company  is  given  in  the 
records  of  hli  fellow-sailors,  notably  in  the  diary  of  Captain  Nicholas  Downton  and 
In  the  relation  of  Master  John  Hatch,  both  of  the  Company's  service;  the  despatches 
and  diary  of  Sir  Thomas  Roe,  British  envoy  and  resident  at  the  court  of  the  Mughal 
Emperor,  Jahangir,  are  valuable,  as  are  also  the  papers  of  the  Company,  and  other 
official  documents  to  be  found  in  the  Calendar  of  State  Papers.  The  only  evidence 
concerning  a  third  voyage  to  America  is  the  will  of  one  Miles  Prickett,  a  baker,  who 
died  near  Canterbury,  England,  in  1626  or  1627.  The  secondary  sources  which 
deserve  special  notice  are  few;  they  consist  chiefly  of  brief  biographical  notices  in 
Brown's  "  Genesis  of  the  United  States,"  in  the  "  Dictionary  of  National  Biography  " 
and  in  a  pamphlet  by  Dr.  James  Pring  of  Plymouth,  England,  published  in  1888. 
Articles  in  several  periodicals  and  In  Wlnsor's  "  Narrative  and  Critical  History  " 
are  of  varying  merit;  those  by  Dr.  De  Costa,  however,  are  valuable  for  disputed 
matters  in  early  American  discovery.  On  close  examination  the  whole  sifts  to 
comparatively  little  of  determined  value.  Many  gaps  remain  and  much  may  still 
be  open  to  debate;  but  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  proceed  beyond  the  limit  set 
by  the  evidence  available.  A  bibliography  of  titles  cited  will  be  found  at  the  close 
of  the  paper. 

8 


youngest  and  last  of  the  breed,  gave  sign  of  the  stock 
from  which  he  sprang. 

At  the  start  of  his  essay  "  Of  the  True  Greatness  of 
the  Kingdom  of  Britain  "  Sir  Francis  Bacon  wisely 
says  :  "  The  just  measure  and  estimate  of  the  forces 
and  power  of  an  estate  is  a  matter,  than  the  which 
there  is  nothing  among  civil  affairs  more  subject  to 
error,  nor  that  error  more  subject  to  perilous  conse- 
quence."^ It  would  have  been  easy  indeed  to  mistake 
the  measure  of  England's  power  in  the  year  when 
Martin  Pring  was  born,  for  in  1580  modern  England 
was  approaching  the  first  great  crisis  of  her  life. 
Not  again  till  the  day  of  Louis  XIV  or  of  Napoleon 
were  the  vital  forces  of  the  state  to  be  so  vehemently 
attacked  from  abroad.  It  is  true  that  men  were  to 
dispute  the  nature  of  sovereignty  and  its  proper  loca- 
tion in  the  nation  ;  men  were  to  make  petitions,  grand 
remonstrances,  solemn  covenants  and  declarations  of 
right ;  one  king  was  to  die  for  his  prerogative  and 
another  was  to  lose  his  throne  for  his  faith  and 
conduct,  yet  throughout  the  long  struggle  of  the 
seventeenth  century  the  existence  of  England  as  an 
independent  nation  was  never  so  vitally  at  stake  as  in 
the  years  when  Martin  Pring  was  coming  to  youth. 

Later  Montesquieu  was  to  write  of  the  English  as 
the  people  who  above  all  others  had  known  best  how 
to  "profit  simultaneously  by  three  great  forces  —  relig- 
ion, commerce  and  liberty."^  For  the  problems  which 
troubled  England  in  1580  were  not  of  one  category ; 

« Bacon :  "  Works,"  VII,  p.  47. 
'  "Esprit  des  lois,"  1.  XX,  c.  7. 


nor  did  each  stand  separate  ;  rather  did  politics,  relig- 
ion and  economics  form  an  equilateral,  inseparable 
and  fundamental,  on  which  modern  England  was  to 
rise  a  free,  Protestant  and  maritime  power. 

In  the  opening  years  of  Elizabeth's  rule  there  stood 
foremost  the  question  of  religion,  disastrous  legacy  of 
earlier  reigns.  On  the  one  hand  was  a  body  of  Cath- 
olic bishops  holding  manfully  to  ancient  dogma  and 
tradition  and  attempting  a  loyal  fealty  to  both  Papal 
tiara  and  royal  crown.  On  the  other  hand  were  those 
divines  whom  an  exile  on  the  continent,  enforced  by 
Mary's  persecutions,  had  innoculated  with  a  Calvinism 
hitherto  foreign  to  English  minds.  Between  the  two 
was  the  great  bulk  of  the  English  people.  These 
"  wished  for  a  national  church,  independent  of  Rome, 
with  simple  services,  not  too  unlike  those  to  which 
they  had  been  accustomed  "  before  the  will  of  Henry 
Vin  had  swept  the  church  into  the  employ  of  his 
passions.  Some  must  be  dissatisfied  whatever  solu- 
tion be  finally  attained  of  the  problem  thus  pro- 
potmded.  One  thing,  however,  was  certain  —  Papal 
jurisdiction  could  not  be  revived  in  the  domain  of  a 
queen  to  be  adjudged  illegitimate  and  heretical  by 
Papal  Europe.  Another  thing  was  desirable  — 
namely,  to  proceed  with  such  leisurely  liberty  as 
might  allow  men  to  compose  their  minds  to  a  regime 
of  discussion  without  animosity,  yet  with  such  order 
and  sympathy  that  both  ecclesiastical  continuity  and 
religious  consciousness  might  find  one  roof  to  shelter 
them.  For  the  nation  had  a  conservative  belief  in 
God  and  wished  opportunity  and  place  to  express  that 


belief.  The  England  of  Elizabeth  was  a  religious  if 
not  a  pious  country.  Men  might  trade  in  slaves, 
range  the  seas  as  pirates,  speak  and  write  broadly, 
yet  they  rarely  forgot  to  commend  their  souls  to  God 
or  to  thank  Him  who,  in  the  words  of  Hawkins,  the 
slave-trader,  "  preserveth  his  elect."  EHzabeth  knew 
her  people  well  and  nursed  them  in  religious  matters 
with  the  hope  that  a  Catholic  might  still  remain  a 
patriot,  though  England  might  never  again  be 
Roman.* 

Despite  the  tortuous  negotiations  concerning  her 
marriage  and  the  succession  to  the  throne  Elizabeth 
emerged  from  them  surrounded  by  a  "  personal  loy- 
alty of  unswerving  devotion"  on  the  part  of  men  who 
conceived  it  their  greatest  pleasure  to  be  the  "  instru- 
ment of  her  glory,"  their  highest  honor  to  merit  her 
approval  and  their  gravest  duty  to  unite  in  enthusi- 
astic association  to  defend  her  person.  By  the  spirit 
thus  inspired  men  did  things  with  a  dash  that  had 
much  of  a  swagger  ;  they  learned  to  die  with  a  grand 
manner.  All  England  was  ready  to  go  crusading 
with  Spenser  in  the  name  of  the  Faerie  Queen.  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh  as  he  entered  Cadiz  harbor  and  "  all 
the  Spanish  forts  and  ships  opened  fire  on  him  at 
once  scorned  to  shoot  a  gun  and  made  answer  with  a 
flourish  of  insulting  trumpets."  Again  the  Earl  of 
Essex  when  the  news  reached  him  that  the  attack  on 
Cadiz  had  been  decided  threw  his  hat  overboard  for 
pure  joy,  as  a  school  boy  would  toss  his  hat  in  the  air 
at  the  news  of  a  holiday.     Yet  Essex  was  a  peer  of 

'  CreightoD :  "  Queen  Elizabeth,"  pp.  47-49,  et  passim. 


the  realm,  a  man  of  great  possessions,  who  was  to  "be 
allowed  to  risk  his  life.^  Sir  Richard  Grenville  of 
the  Revenge  furnishes,  perhaps,  in  the  manner  of  his 
dying,  the  best  example  of  them  all.  After  his  fight 
with  the  Spaniards  off  the  Azores,  at  odds  of  one  to 
fifty-three,  crying  at  the  end,  in  the  words  of  the 
ballad 

"  '  I  have  fought  for  Queen  and  Faith  like  a  valliant  man  and  true; 
I  have  only  done  my  duty  as  a  man  is  bound  to  do : 
With  a  joyful  spirit  I  Sir  Richard  Grenville  die.' 
And  he  fell  upon  their  decks,  and  he  died." 

Against  the  personal  charm  and  beauty  of  Mary 
Stuart,  against  the  conspiracies  of  those  Catholics  to 
whom  civil  obedience  was  less  than  religious  fanati- 
cism, against  fears  of  Jesuit  assassination  and  of  for- 
eign invasion,  Elizabeth  had  to  match  all  the  capacity 
of  her  mind,  all  the  wisdom  of  her  temporizing  policy, 
and  at  the  last  to  rest  on  the  patience,  affection  and 
bravery  of  her  people.  And  surely  that  patience  was 
sorely  tried  by  those  outbreaks  of  petulant  cruelty,  of 
wayward  despotism,  by  that  practise  of  parsimony 
and  hesitating  compromise  which  checker  her  reputa- 
tion. At  times  politics  sank  to  a  "low  level  of 
absurdity  "  because  of  her  wavering  policy;  yet  at  the 
crisis  of  her  reign,  when  not  only  her  fate  but  possi- 
bly the  course  of  English  history  were  in  the  balance, 
the  entire  nation  rallied  to  her  support  and  to  the 
defence  of  the  state.  For  the  religious  question, 
linked  as  it  was  to  that  of  Elizabeth's  marriage  and 
the  succession  to  the  crown,  had  found  a  stern  solution 

>  Cf.  Stevenion'B  Essay  on  the  "  Eoglisb  Admirals"  In  "  Firginibua  Pueriaque ;" 
and  Crelghton :  '•  Qae«n  Elizabeth,"  passim. 


in  the  political  difiBculties  which  became  clear  to 
all  in  1580.  In  that  year,  with  Papal  approval  and 
Spanish  furtherance,  a  plan  was  made  to  attack 
England  through  Ireland,  through  Scotland,  and 
through  conspiracy  at  home.  The  defeat  of  these 
endeavors  and  the  execution  of  Mary  Stuart  cleared 
the  way  for  the  greater  Spanish  attack,  the  Invincible 
Armada. 

And  here  the  economic  interest,  long  efficient  in 
the  affairs  of  the  nation,  becomes  essential  to  the 
course  of  events.  Under  its  stimulus  politics  redis- 
covered an  old  trinity,  that  of  commerce,  colonies 
and  sea-power.  For  in  the  Tudor  period  a  great 
change  took  place  in  the  material  life  of  England. 
Where  men  had  formerly  planted  crops  they  now 
pastured  sheep,  whose  wool  was  to  busy  increasing 
looms.  Where  once  Walter  of  Henley  had  written  a 
"  Treatise  on  Husbandry  "  John  Hales  now  published 
a  "  Discourse  on  the  Common  Weal."  Hakluyt  was 
compiling  the  "  Navigations,  Voyages,  Traffiques  and 
Discoveries  of  the  English  Nation,"  and  a  few  years 
later  Thomas  Mun  was  to  defend  and  spread  a  new 
theory  of  national  economy  by  writing  his  "Discourse  of 
Trade"  and  "England's  Treasure  by  Forraign Trade."' 
During  the  sixteenth  century  the  place  long  held  by 
manorial    agriculture    was    suffering    encroachment 

» Walter  of  Henley :  "  Le  Dite  de  Hosebondrie  "  (edited  by  Lamond),  London,  1890. 
Written  during  the  XIII  century.  Cf .  "  Royal  Hist.  Soc.  Trans."  1895,  IX  pp.  216- 
21.  J.  Hales:  "  A  discourse  of  the  common  weal  of  this  realm  of  England,"  (edited 
by  Lamond),  Cambridge,  1893.  Written  1549;  first  published  1581.  Cf.  Cunningham 
in  "  Econ.  Jour."  December,  1893.  Hakluyt's  first  edition  appeared  in  1689;  the  com- 
pleted work  was  printed  1599-1600.  Mun :  "  A  Discourse  of  Trade  from  England  unto 
the  East  Indies,"  was  printed  in  1621  and  republished  in  Purchas,  Vol.  I ;  '*  England's 
Treasure  by  Forraign  Trade  "  was  not  published,  however,  till  1664. 


by  new  national  industrial  and  commercial  inter- 
ests; and  the  domestic  economy  of  mediaeval  England 
was  disappearing  as  the  establishment  of  capital 
transformed  the  relations  of  land  and  labor.  Great 
vistas  were  opening  dimly  to  merchants  in  whom 
imagination  and  a  spirit  of  adventure  had  been  bred. 

The  craft  guilds,  weakened  by  internal  divisions 
and  external  changes,  were  surrendering  the  control 
of  industry  itself  into  the  hands  of  the  government. 
Enactments  such  as  the  Statute  of  Apprentices 
(1563)  became  part  of  a  legislative  code  whose  ration- 
ale "  was  the  deliberate  pursuit  of  national  power." 
Foreign  commerce,  once  intermunicipal,  became  inter- 
national. Chartered  companies  traded  to  all  parts, 
each,  however,  under  supervision  and  with  carefully 
defined  privileges  or  spheres  of  monopoly.^  An 
economic  theory  arose  which,  overlooking  subtler  laws 
of  credit,  regarded  a  flourishing  export  trade  and  a 
treasure  store  at  home  as  essential  signs  of  national 
prosperity  and  safety.  Shipbuilding  and  the  training 
of  sailors  became  a  national  occupation ;  and  soon 
Bacon  was  to  write  that  the  "  vantage  of  strength  at 
sea  (which  is  one  of  the  principal  dowries  of  this 

kingdom  of  Great  Britain )  is  great because 

the  wealth  of  both  Indies  seems  in  great  part  but  an 
accessory  to  the  command  of  the  seas."^ 

To  draw  to  England,  whether  by  arms  or  trade,  the 
riches  of  America  and  Asia,  became,  therefore,  a 
principle  of  the  national  economy.     There  followed 

>  Cf .  CunniDgtaam :  "  Growth  of  Englista  Industry  and  Commerce  "  (Modern  Timet, 
pt.  2  )  Section  VI,  parts  1  and  2. 

•  Bacon:  '•  Worlu,"  VI,  p.  461. 


naturally  the  establishment  of  plantations  and  facto- 
ries. Yet  this  system  was  not  developed  in  a  year ; 
and  I  have  gone  beyond  the  limits  of  Elizabeth's  reign 
to  show  you  to  what  purpose  this  policy  was  destined. 
Our  concern  is  with  the  evolution  of  this  system 
rather  than  with  its  completion  or  full  operation ; 
our  special  interest  lies  with  the  men  who  supported, 
indeed  created,  this  policy.  For  as  pioneers  of  trade 
and  colonization,  as  forerunners  of  companies  and  cor- 
porations, there  came  men,  half  statesman,  half  pirate, 
who  by  their  personal  endeavors  were  to  lay  the  foun- 
dations of  England's  greatness  as  an  industrial  and 
commercial  power. 

These  Elizabethan  seamen  had  been  raiding  to  the 
Antipodes  and  the  Spanish  Main  and  plundering 
Spanish  ships  to  such  purpose  that  when  the  day  of 
trial  came  Elizabeth  found  ready  to  her  hand  a  fleet 
manned  by  crews,  anxious  to  face  the  unequal  odds 
offered  by  the  Spanish  Armada  and  able  to  assist  the 
elements  in  a  victory  of  supreme  importance  to  our 
race.  For  a  new  England  grew  out  of  that  great 
struggle,  and  the  Queen,  who  had  found  the  country 
"  dispirited,  divided  and  uncertain  "  saw  toward  the 
close  of  her  reign  a  proud,  united  and  confident  peo- 
ple, possessed  by  a  sense  of  national  self-conscious- 
ness, which  was  to  mark  the  age  with  a  freshness  and 
vigor  all  its  own.    The  new  England  had  found  itself. 

II. 

Martin  Pring  was  eight  years  old  when  the  men  of 
his  race  and  in  particular  the  men  of  his  own  shire, 

10 


Devon,  went  out  to  meet  the  Spanish  fleet ;   he  was 
eleven  when  Sir  Richard  Grenville  won  death   and 
everlasting  glory  in  his  fight  off  the  Azores.     As  he 
came  to  manhood  the  older  men  were  telling  their 
tales  of  wild  raids  and  rich  plunder  ;  but  the  younger 
men  talked  of   the  new  companies  formed   for  the 
Russia,   the   Levant,   the   Barbary  and   the   Guinea 
trades,  of  prospects  of  further  discoveries,  of  coloni- 
zation  and  of  commerce ;   yet  young  and  old  alike 
familiar  with  the  Spanish  Main  and  curious  for  the 
Spice  Islands  and  the  Norumbega  shore.     Small  won- 
der then  that  Pring  chose  the  sea  ;  but  greater  honor 
that  amid  such  competition  as  the  period  forced  he 
soon  won  his  way  to  command.     He  gained  the  confi- 
dence of  Richard  Hakluyt,  compiler  of  the  "prose 
epic  of  the  modern  English  nation,"  and  of  John 
Whitson,  twice  mayor  of  Bristol  and  four  times  mem- 
ber of  Parliament,  and  thus  the  patronage  of  the  Mer- 
chant Adventurers  of  Bristol.      This  was  manifest 
when  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  Captain  Pring  was 
placed  in  charge  of  a  venture  to  Virginia.     It  was  in 
1603,  the  year  in  which  Francis  Bacon  was  knighted 
and  William  Shakespere's  play,  the  "  Taming  of  the 
Shrew,"   was   first   enacted.     In   this   year  also  the 
Queen  died,  as  if  for  sign  that  a  new  age  in  English 
history  was  at  hand.^ 

» The  Raasia  or  Muscovy  Co.  was  chartered  In  1654;  the  Eastland  Co.  In  1679;  the 
Levant  or  Turkey  Co.  In  1581;  the  Barbary  or  Morocco  Co.  in  1686;  the  first  Guinea 
Co.  in  1688;  and  the  East  India  Co.  in  1800.  Cf.  Cunningham:  op.  cit.  "Modern 
Times  "  pt.  I,  pp.  234  et  seq. ;  Cawston  and  Keane :  "  Early  Chartered  Companies." 
On  the  commerce  and  importance  of  Bristol  at  this  time  see  Anderson:  "Origin  of 
Commerce,"  II,  pp.  48, 106, 161-52.  For  biographical  sketches  of  Whitson  and  Pring 
■ee  "  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,"  and  Brown :  "  Genesis  of  U .  S.",  II,  pp.  972, 
1062.  Cf.  also  Pring:  "  Captaine  Martin  Pringe,"  p.  8.  Martin  Pring  was  probably 
born  in  the  parish  of  Awliscombe  near  Honiton,  Devon,  in  1580. 

11 


Voyages  to  Virginia  were  large  matters  in  those 
days ;  but  Captain  Pring,  as  tlie  record  reads,  was 
regarded  as  "a  man  very  sufficient  for  the  place." 
His  destination  was  to  be  the  northern  part  of  Vir- 
ginia, Norumbega  as  some  called  it,  where  during  the 
century  past  some  half  a  dozen  known  discoveries  had 
been  made  by  Englishmen.  In  1527  John  Rut  had 
seen  off  Newfoundland  a  flock  of  French  fishing-ves- 
sels ;  and  later  John  Hore  of  London  had  sailed  after 
him.  Thirty  years  were  to  pass  and  Ingram  by  his 
fantastic  tales  of  a  city  of  silver  and  crystal  on  the 
Penobscot  gave  the  New  England  region  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  land  of  Eldorado.  Others  followed  and 
soon  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  that  flower  of  Elizabethan 
chivalry,  gave  up  his  life  in  an  attempt  to  plant  in 
Norumbega.  A  year  after  that  melancholy  event,  in 
1584,  the  Queen  was  pleased,  as  the  result  of  a  voyage 
by  Amidas  and  Barlow  to  the  southern  coast,  to  name 
the  whole  region  Virginia  for  herself  and  to  bestow 
in  conjunction  with  Parliament  an  ample  patent  for 
that  country  upon  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  Then  the 
struggle  with  Spain  came  on  to  engross  English  ener- 
gies ;  the  Atlantic  became  the  scene  of  a  vast  naval 
struggle ;  and  within  four  years  the  Spaniards  had 
lost  800  ships.  But  a  further  attempt  to  plant  in 
Virginia  had  again  failed. 

Yet  many  vessels  had  in  the  meantime  crossed  the 
ocean  to  the  Banks  to  fish  and  to  the  mainland  to  get 
furs.  Finally  with  larger  purpose  came  Gosnold  in 
1602  and  with  him  Bartholomew  Gilbert.  Their  voyage 
led  them  in  accordance  with  Verrazano's  directions 

12 


\ 


by  tlie  direct  passage  to  the  main ;  then  turning 
southward  they  made  Cape  Cod  and  at  last  Cutty- 
hunk  in  the  Elizabeth  Islands.  With  a  store  of  sassa- 
fras root  and  cedar  boards  they  returned  to  England 
only  to  lose  their  profits  at  the  hands  of  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh,  promoter  and  monopolist.  For  he  claimed 
the  venture  as  an  infringement  of  his  patent,  protest- 
ing also  that  the  sudden  dumping  on  the  market  of  a 
full  cargo  of  the  root  would  greatly  lower  the  price, 
which  at  that  time  ranged  as  high  as  twenty  shillings 
the  pound.  This  unauthorized  attempt  to  plunder 
had  for  our  purposes  one  merit  in  that,  profiting  by 
such  example,  the  Bristol  merchants,  who  were  to 
father  Pring's  endeavors,  first  secured  a  license  for 
the  venture  from  Sir  Walter.  Further,  Robert  Sal- 
teme,  who  had  been  pilot  to  Gosnold,  was  engaged  to 
go  with  Pring.* 

The  account  of  this  first  voyage  made  by  Pring  to 
America,  as  published  in  Purchas,  though  credited  to 
Pring  is  obviously  not  all  by  the  same  hand.  In  the 
first  two  paragraphs  and  the  last  Pring  is  referred  to 
in  the  third  person ;  and  his  own  statements  begin 
only  with  the  departure  from  Milford  Haven  on  April 
10  and  do  not  include  the  record  of  the  home  voyage. 
It  seems  probable  that  the  relation  reached  Purchas 

•  Wtnsor:  "  Narrative  and  Critical  History,"  III,  pp.  16»-218,  especially  pp.  1T3-174, 
188-189.  Pring:  "CapUine  Martin  Fringe,"  pp.  1618.  Brown:  op.  cit.  I,  p.  26:  II., 
pp.  896,  904;  and  "Dictionary  of  Nat.  Blog.,"  see  Oosnold,  B.  Gilbert  and  Pring. 
Brereton's  and  Archer's  relation  of  Oosnold's  voyage  are  in  "  Mass.  Hist.  8oc.  Coll." 
ard  series,  VIII.  Cf.  De  Costa  in  "  Mag.  of  Am.  Hist.,"  X,  p.  146.  One  only  of  Gos- 
nold's  party  saved  bis  sbare  by  entering  Raleigb's  service;  this  was  not  Gosnold  as 
Dr.  De  Costa  has  it,  but  Bartholomew  Gilbert  who  in  the  year  following  lost  his  life 
In  Chesapeake  Bay.  The  statements  in  Bancroft:  "Hist,  of  U.  8.,"  (Orlg.  ed.),  I, 
pp.  129-30,  in  Palfrey:  "Hist,  of  New  Eng.,"  I,  pp.  78-76,  and  in  Belknap:  "Am. 
Biog.,"  II,  pp.  228-37,  appear  to  be  in  need  of  correction. 

13 


s 


among  Hakluyt's  papers.  There  was  also  a  Dutch 
abstract  made  of  it  by  Gottfried  and  published  by 
Van  der  Aa;  this  edition  was  embellished  by  a  copper 
plate  representing  an  Indian  attack.  The  mistaken 
geographical  interpretations  which  once  obscured  the 
history  of  this  voyage  have  now  been  corrected  and 
the  identification  with  Plymouth  Harbor  of  Whitson 
Bay,  as  Pring  called  his  final  haven  in  honor  of  the 
mayor  of  Bristol,  has  been  so  successfully  accom- 
plished by  Dr.  De  Costa  that  it  need  not  detain  us  at 
present.' 

The  expedition  consisted  of  two  ships,  the  Speed- 
well of  fifty  tons  and  the  Discoverer  of  half  that  bur- 
then, the  two  manned  by  less  than  fifty  crew ;  they 
were  laden  with  "  slight  merchandizes  thought  fit  to 
trade  with  the  people  of  the  Countrey,"  hats  of  divers 
colors,  clothing,  tools  and  lesser  toys  —  beads  and 
bells,  looking-glasses  and  thimbles.  By  the  voyagers 
the  beauties  of  the  Maine  coast  were  well  remarked, 
the  value  of  the  fisheries  and  of  the  lumber ;  but 
though  small  explorations  were  made  in  Casco  Bay, 
the  main  purpose  was  not  secured  till  good  sassafras 
was  found  within  Cape  Cod.  Here  experiments  in 
agriculture  were  made  to  discover  the  excellent  qual- 
ity of  soil  and  climate,  the  abundance  of  fruit  being 
a  special  cause  of  satisfaction.  Here  the  Indians 
were  seen  first,  dances  were  given  for  them,  and  all 
went  well  tiU  near  the  end  when  a  treacherous  attack 

>  In  addition  to  materials  noted  under  tbe  last  footnote  the  main  sources  for  this 
voyage  are  in  Purchas:  "  His  Pilgrimes,"  IV,  pp.  1654-56;  V.,  p.  829.  Salterne's  rela- 
tion is  given  in  J.  Smith :  "  General  Historie  of  Virginia,"  ( Arber's  reprint),  p.  336. 
Cf .  De  Costo  in  "  Mag.  of  Am.  Hist.,"  VIII,  pp.  807  et  seq.,  840,  et  seq.,  and  in  '•  New 
Eog.  Hist,  and  Gen.  Reg.,"  XXXII,  pp.  76  et  seq. 

14 


on  the  voyagers  was  attempted.  On  this  occasion 
two  great  mastiffs  brought  from  England  were  useful 
in  dispersing  the  savages.  The  sassafras  root  with 
which  both  ships  were  laden  was  highly  esteemed  at 
this  time  in  England  as  a  remedy  for  serious  plagues 
and  fever  and  was  sometimes  called  the  ague  root. 
By  October  all  were  safely  home,  bringing  profit  and 
information  to  the  patrons  of  the  venture. 

Voyages  such  as  this  showed  that  the  day  of 
Hawkins  and  Drake  had  passed  for  America ;  that 
the  buccaneers  were  becoming  merchants  ;  that  plan- 
tations would  soon  take  the  place  of  piracy  and  that 
a  new  England  bent  on  commercial  advancement  and 
colonial  expansion  was  now  in  the  making.  Indeed, 
what  may  possibly  be  direct  indication  of  this  change 
is  to  be  found  in  the  use  by  Pring  of  the  Speedwell,  a 
west  of  England  pinnace.  A  vessel  of  the  same  name 
and  tonnage,  hailing  from  the  same  part  of  England, 
was  in  Sir  Francis  Drake's  fleet  employed  by  him  in 

1587  for  that  characteristic  raid  in  Cadiz,  which  he 
described  as  "  singeing  the  beard  of  the  King  of 
Spain."  Furthermore  Drake  had  under  his  command 
in  the  fight  with  the  Armada  in  the  next  year  a  ship 
of  approximately  the  same  tonnage,  also  called  the 
Speedwell,  Hugh  Hardinge,  Master,  apparently  one  of 
many  merchantmen  which  either  were  volunteered  or 
were  chartered  for  special  service.  It  seems  fair  to 
assume  that  the  same  boat  is  referred  to  in  1587  and 

1588  and  if  so  the  question  of  her  identity  with  Pring's 
ship  becomes  the  more  interesting.  In  any  event, 
that  two  or  perhaps  three  ships  whose  similarity  is  so 


15 


/ 


marked  as  to  suggest  possible  identity  should  have 
been  put  to  this  variety  of  employment  within  sixteen 
years  ( 1587-1603 )  is  significant  of  the  change  taking 
place  in  all  England/ 

Pring's  next  great  voyage  was  to  the  Guiana  coast 
in  1604  as  master  in  the  Phoenix  of  Charles  Leigh's 
ill-fated  expedition.  In  turning  thus  from  Virginia 
to  Guiana  Pring  gives  further  proof  of  his  lineage. 
For  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  was  to  show  the  interests  of 
his  time  by  likewise  transferring  his  ventures  from 
the  Chesapeake  to  the  Orinoco.  Pring  was  drawci  in 
the  later  Elizabethan  manner.  Those  of  you  who  are 
fortunate  enough  to  retain  clear  memories  of  "  West- 
ward Ho  !  "  that  finest  of  Elizabethan  tales,  wiU  recall 
the  dangers  and  privations  endured  by  the  wanderers 
in  South  American  forests.  To  such  the  story  of  the 
reckless  yet  gallant  ventures,  the  terrible  sufferings 
and  pitiful  rescue  of  Charles  Leigh's  party,  will 
afford  an  interesting  parallel.  It  is  all  written  out 
in  the  fourth  volume  of  Purchas.  Pring,  however, 
showed  himself  to  be  more  sensible  if  less  loyal  than 
others  ;  for  when  he  found  that  despite  of  the  climate, 
the  lack  of  victuals  and  the  desperate  character  of  the 
endeavor,  Leigh  was  firm  to  colonize,  he  led  a  party 
in  mutiny  and  finally  was  quit  of  the  whole  matter  by 

>T.augbton:  "The  Spanish  Armada,"  II,  pp.  182,  326.  The  variations  in  measure- 
ment of  tonnage  make  it  possible  to  disregard  a  difference  of  ten  tons,  p.  328. 
Clowes:  "Hist,  of  Royal  Navy,"  I,  pp.  423,  487,  591.  Corbett:  "  Drake  and  the  Tudor 
Navy,"  II,  p.  68  n.  Oppenheim:  "  Adm.  of  the  Royal  Navy,"  pp.  120,  123,  139,  160, 
163,  202,  203,  214,  251  n.  The  two  pinnaces  mentioned  in  the  text  should  not  be  con- 
fused with  the  galley  Speedwell,  built  at  Woolwich  in  1669  and  carried  on  the  navy 
list  till  1579,  nor  with  the  400-ton  Speedwell  to  be  found  on  the  navy  list  of  James  1 ; 
she  was  formerly  the  Swif  taure,  rebuilt  in  1607,  but  was  lost  near  Flushing  in  Novem- 
ber, 1624.  The  use  of  private  vessels  by  the  government  was  frequent;  in  1688  there 
were  163  not  on  the  royal  navy  list  but  either  in  pay  or  in  use  for  the  struggle  in  the 
Channel. 

16 


sailing  home  in  an  Amsterdam  ship  that  chanced  on 
that  coast.  The  rest  of  the  party  were  with  difficulty 
persuaded  to  remain,  and  within  two  years  Leigh 
himself  and  many  more  were  dead  of  disease  and 
want ;  others  were  in  Spanish  prisons,  and  less  than 
a  dozen  out  of  the  whole  ship's  company  returned 
direct  to  England. 

These  events,  however,  did  not  in  any  way  affect 
Pring's  reputation,  if  we  may  judge  of  it  by  his  next 
employment.  This  was  at  the  hands  of  Sir  John 
Popham,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  King's  Bench. 
At  his  appointment  Pring  was  to  make  a  second  voy- 
age to  North  America  and  to  spend  some  weeks  in  a 
careful  examination  of  the  Maine  coast.  The  purpose 
of  this  expedition,  moreover,  was  no  mere  matter  of 
cedar  boards  or  sassafras  root.  It  resulted  in  fact 
from  a  carefully  reasoned  plan  of  colonization  bred  in 
the  mind  of  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  Governor  of 
Plymouth,  by  earnest  talk  held  by  him  with  certain 
Pemaquid  Indians.  These  Captain  Waymouth  had 
brought  back  in  1605  from  St.  George's  Harbor.  As 
Sir  Ferdinando  later  wrote  —  these  savages  were 
"  the  means,  under  God,  of  putting  on  foot  and  giving 
life  to  all  our  plantations.' 


»>2 


♦Purchas:  IV,  pp.  1263  etseq.,  1260.  Cf.  Brown:  op.  cit.,  I,  p.  27;  II,  p.  937.  A 
relief  expedition  sent  In  1605  by  Sir  Olive  Leigh  to  his  brother,  Captain  Charles 
Leigh,  In  Guiana,  never  reached  there.  Capt.  Leigh  died  March  20,  1606.  On  July  2 
he  had  written  to  the  Privy  Council  in  England  that  he  was  "  resolved  to  remain 
with  40  men  and  return  the  rest  for  England.  The  natives  desire  that  he  will  send 
for  men  to  teach  them  to  pray.  Doubts  not  but  God  hath  a  wonderful  work  in  this 
simple-hearted  people.  Beseeches  the  Council  to  send  over  well-disposed 
preachers."    Cal.  State  Papers,  Colonial,  America:  Vol.  I,  ( 1674-1660 )  p.  5. 

'  Gorges :  "  Advanceipent  of  Plantations,"  p.  60.  For  Waymouth  see  "  Mass.  Hist. 
8oc.  Coll.,"  3rd  series,  VIII;  Barrage  in  "  Gorges  8oc.  Publ.,"  1887.  For  Popham  see 
"Diet,  of  Nat.  Biog."  and  Brown:  op.  cit.,  II,  p.  069. 

17 


As  a  preliminary  private  colonization  was  aban- 
doned, and  in  April,  1606,  a  charter  passed  the  royal 
seals  for  the  incorporation  of  two  companies  to  colo- 
nize in  Virginia.  For  the  "  plantation  and  habita- 
tion "  of  the  northern  part  of  Virginia,  as  the  charter 
reads,  "  sundry  Knights,  Gentlemen,  Merchants  and 
other  Adventurers  of  our  cities  of  Bristol  and  Exeter, 
and  of  our  Town  of  Plimouth  "  were  empowered  to 
send  out  an  expedition.*  Sir  John  Popham,  who  had 
himself  probably  drawn  the  first  draft  of  this  charter, 
chose  in  October  of  the  same  year,  Captain  Martin 
Pring,  a  Devonshire  man,  to  join  in  this  Devonshire 
venture  and  to  make  a  voyage  to  America.  There 
Pring  was  to  meet  Captain  Challons  ( or  Challoung ), 
who  had  already  sailed  in  August  with  special  direc- 
tions from  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges.  Together  they 
were  to  choose  a  site  for  the  new  colony.  These 
arrangements,  however,  miscarried ;  for  Challons 
failed  to  reach  the  rendezvous.  He  had  been 
instructed  to  cross  to  Cape  Breton  and  then  to  follow 
the  coast  southward  till  he  should  find  a  suitable 
location  and  meet  with  Pring  near  the  entrance  to 
Penobscot  Bay.  But  contrary  winds  forced  him  from 
the  northern  routes  to  the  West  Indies  ;  after  several 
delays  at  Porto  Rico  his  ship  was  seized  by  the  Span- 
ish authorities  and  he  and  a  part  of  his  ship's  com- 
pany were  carried  prisoners  to  Spain  .^ 

iHacDonald:  "  Select  Charters,"  pp.  1-11. 

» Purchas:  IV,  pp.  1832  et  acq.; " Cal.  State  Papers,"  Col.  Am.,  Vol.  I,  (1574 16C0)  p.  6; 
Brown:  op.  cit.,  I,  pp.  64,  96,  98,  127.  Strachey  in  his  "  Historic  of  Travallle  into 
Virginia,"  p.  163,  is  responsible  for  the  statement  that  Pring  was  captured  by  the 
Spanish,  thus  confusing  Challons  and  Pring. 

18 


Captain  Pring,  on  the  other  hand,  who  had  the  same 
instructions  as  did  Challons,  happily  arrived  on  the 
Maine  coast.     He  had  with  him  one  of  Waymouth's 
Indians,  Damheda  by  name  ;    and  not  hearing  by  any 
means  what  had  become  of  Challons  he  began  to 
explore.     To  quote  again  from  Gorges  :  Pring  "  after 
he  had  made  a  perfect  discovery  of  all  those  rivers 
and  harbors  he  was  informed  of  by  his  instructions, 
( the  season  of  the  year  requiring  his  return )  brings 
with  him  the  most  exact  discovery  of  that  coast  that 
ever  came  to  my  hands  since  ;  and  indeed  he  was  the 
best  able  to  perform  it  of  any  I  ever  met  withal  to 
this  present,  which  with  his  relation  of  the  same 
wrought  such  an  impression  in  the  Lord  Chief  Jus- 
tice and  us  all  that  were  his  associates  that  notwith- 
standing our  first  disaster  we  set  up  our  resolutions 
to  follow  it  with  effect  and  that  upon  better  grounds 
for  as  yet  our  authority  was  but  in  motion. "^     Earlier 
in  the  "  Brief  Relation  of  the  President  and  Council 
of  New  England"  [1622]  a  similar  statement  had 
been  made,  to  wit  —  that  on  hearing  Pring's  relation 
of  this  voyage  "the  lord  chief  justice,  and   we   all 
waxed  so  confident  of  the  business,  that  the  year  fol- 
lowing (1607)  every  man   of   any   worth   formerly 
interested  in  it  was  wiUing  to  join  in  the  charge  for 
the  sending  over  a  competent  mmiber  of  people  to  lay 
the  ground  of  a  hopeful  plantation."^     As  the  result, 
therefore,  of  Pring's   encouraging   information   and 
despite  Challons'  failure.  Sir  John  Popham  "failed 

*  Gorges :  "  Advancement  of  Plantations,"  pp.  61-«. 
* "  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  2nd  Series,  IX,  p.  3. 

19 


not  to  interest  many  of  the  lords  and  others  to  be 
petitioners  to  his  Majesty  for  his  royal  authority,  for 
setting  two  plantations  upon  the  coast  of  America.'" 
What  success  this  further  attempt  to  colonize  in 
Maine  met  with  I  leave  to  the  historians  of  the  Saga- 
dahoc settlement  to  relate. 

For  our  purposes  let  me  point  out  to  you,  first,  that 
it  was  only  because  Challons  failed  to  obey  his  orders 
that  Pring  was  unable  to  share  in  the  honor  of  found- 
ing the  first  English  settlement  on  the  mainland  of 
New  England ;  second,  that  failing  this,  Pring  was 
nevertheless  the  instrument  by  which  the  plan  gained 
perseverence  to  another  attempt ;  and  lastly,  that  in 
the  opinion  of  Gorges,  writing  many  years  later  out 
of  a  full  experience  of  men  and  affairs,  Pring  was  of 
all  the  men  of  that  manly  time  the  ablest  in  discovery 
and  relation.  This  relation  unfortunately  has  been 
lost,  but  other  explorers  made  use  of  it,  for  on  a  map 
drawn  by  the  King's  surveyor  in  1610  are  many  places 
marked  by  virtue  of  Pring's  knowledge.  His  name 
of  Whitson  Bay  is  shown  thereon,  for  it  was  not  till 
four  years  later  that  the  Dutch  suggested  Crane  Bay 
and  Captain  John  Smith  fixed  on  Plymouth  Harbor 
as  a  name  for  the  roadstead  first  discovered  in  1603 
by  their  predecessor,  the  Bristol  captain.* 

III. 

If  all  this  be  so  you  may  well  ask  why  we  hear  noth- 
ing more  of  Captain  Pring  in  the  further  exploration 

*  Gorges:  op.  clt.,  p.  63. 

*  De  Costa  in  "  Mag.  Am.  Hist.,"  VIII,  pp.  668  etaeq.;  Brown:  op.  clt.,  I,  pp.  99, 
467-69. 

20 


and  colonization  of  New  England.  The  answer  is 
to  be  found  in  the  widening  interests  of  English.- 
men.  The  partial  closing  of  the  old  trade  routes 
between  Asia  and  Europe  during  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury and  the  burdensome  restrictions  and  costly  tar- 
iffs laid  on  eastern  trade  had  well  nigh  precipitated 
an  economic  crisis.  Asiatic  trade  had  for  centuries 
been  one  of  the  most  profitable  as  well  as  one  of  the 
most  extensive  of  commercial  investments ;  and  the 
supply  of  spices  from  the  oriental  tropics  had  become 
a  necessity  both  for  the  preservation  of  food  and  to 
render  it  palatable  to  the  gastronomic  taste  of  Europe. 
The  northern  peoples  do  not  seem  to  have  been 
attracted  by  the  possibilities  of  unseasoned  vegeta- 
rianism ;  and  fashion  of  flavors  as  well  as  the  lack  of 
satisfactory  methods  of  refrigeration  in  southern 
Europe  made  the  situation  there  even  more  acute. 
Nor  did  the  prospect  grow  better  as  the  close  of 
the  century  came  nearer.  For  while  the  Ottoman 
advance  had  partially  closed  the  routes  which  opened 
on  the  Black  and  Mgean  Seas,  the  imsettled  condition 
of  Syria  made  trade  uncertain  by  the  Persian  routes. 
The  Red  Sea  route,  so  long  the  golden  channel  of 
Muslim  monopoly,  might  have  sufficed  had]  it  not 
been  for  the  mistaken  policy  of  the  independent 
Mamluk  sultans  of  Egypt.  As  early  as  1428  these 
inaugurated  a  heavy  tariff  on  oriental  goods  bound 
for  Italian  ports  and  made  pepper  a  state  monopoly. 
Other  spices  were  soon  added  and  even  sugar  was 
subjected  to  close  growth  and  manufacture.  By 
1443  the  opinions  of  the  theological  jurists  of  Cairo 

21 


had  been  secured  in  defence  of  the  system ;  and 
to-day  it  seems  doubtful  whether  the  Ottoman  con- 
quest of  Egyptian  dominions  ( 1516-17 )  had  immedi- 
ately much  worse  results  for  this  intercontinental 
trade  than  had  already  followed  the  policy  of  the 
Circassian  dynasty.^ 

These  facts  were  in  large  part  responsible  for  the 
rapid  geographical  advance  of  the  fifteenth  and  six- 
teenth centuries.  The  disappearance  of  domestic 
economy  and  the  restoration  of  capitalism  required 
larger  fields  for  investment  and  at  the  same  time 
urged  on  the  search  for  new  supplies  of  bullion. 
While  these  operated  generally  the  geographical  sit- 
uation, the  religious  feeling  and  the  traditional  polit- 
ical policy  of  Portugal  were  such  as  to  make  the 
success  of  her  sailors  in  African  waters  a  natural 
sequent  to  her  history.     The  stimulus  thus  derived 

*  For  suggestive  comment  on  the  spice  trade  vide  Robinson:  "  Western  Europe," 
p.  348.  The  economic  policy  of  the  Mamluk  sovereigns  is  referred  to  in  Muir: 
"  The  Mameluke  or  Slave  Dynasty  of  Egypt,"  pp.  142,  153.  Though  of  uncertain 
value  hecause  of  changes  in  money  values,  the  price  of  pepper  In  England  is  worth 
noting:  1412,  pepper  was  4s.  a  pound,  though  in  1411  Parliament  had  fixed  the  price 
at  1  s.  8d.  In  this  year  a  pound  of  standard  silver  was  worth  £1  10s.  Od.  ( Cotton : 
"  Abridgement,"  p.  482 ;  Walshingham,  p.  381,  quoted  by  Macpherson:  "Annals," 
IV,  App.  Hand  III).  In  1512  with  silver  about  10s.  a  pound  higher,  pepper  was 
Is.  4d.  In  1559  it  was  2d.  an  ounce  and  silver  was  at  £3;  in  1698  near  Christmas,  pep- 
per was  8s.  a  pound  ( Stowe :  "  Annales,"  p.  130 ).  Between  1697  and  1599  the  Dutch 
had  raised  the  price  from  3  to  68.  a  pound  on  pepper  which  probably  had  not  cost 
more  than  6d.  Macpherson:  "Commerce  with  India,"  pp.  77,  82;  Birdwood:  "Old 
Records  "  { ed.  1891 ),  p.  199;  Hunter:  "  British  India,"  I,  pp.  241,  279.  I  have  chosen 
pepper  because  it  was  one  of  the  cheapest  spices  but  very  generally  used.  The 
rapid  rise  in  the  price  of  pepper  at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  eentury  is  paralleled 
by  that  of  other  more  expensive  spices.  It  is  evident  that  both  Macpherson  and 
Birdwood  believe  it  was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  meetings  on  September  22  and 
24, 1699,  of  certain  London  merchants  which  led  to  the  chartering  of  a  British  East 
India  Co.  Cf.  Stevens:  " Dawn  of  British  Trade,"  pp.  1-7.  Both  the  influence  of 
English  participation  in  the  spice  trade  and  the  great  profit  from  it  can  be  seen  from 
the  prices  given  by  Malynes  in  his  "  Center  of  the  Circle  of  Commerce  "  ( 1623  ) 
quoted  by  Cawston  and  Keane:  "Chartered  Companies,"  p.  96. 

Cost  in  the  Indies  per  lb.       Sold  in  England  per  lb. 
Pepper  Os.  2;^d.  Is.  8d. 

Cloves  0    9  5    0 

Nutmegs  0    4  3    0 

Mace  0    8  6    0 

22 


carried  them  to  a  greater  achievement  by  the  end  of 
the  fifteenth  century  and  once  in  Asiatic  waters  they 
were  able  to  deprive  the  Arabs  of  the  monopoly  of 
the  spice  trade.  At  the  same  time  the  Portuguese  did 
not  attempt  the  distribution  of  oriental  products  in 
Europe.  The  profitable  trade  of  the  middleman  fell 
to  the  Dutch.  It  followed  that  the  submersion  of 
Portuguese  interests  in  those  of  Spain  aroused  both 
Dutch  and  English  to  a  further  realization  of  the  lim- 
itations they  had  hitherto  endured.  While  the  inde- 
pendent search  for  northeastern  and,  northwestern 
passages  to  the  East  was  not  abandoned,  the  desire 
to  use  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  route  closed  to  deter- 
mination by  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The 
search  under  Spanish  auspices  for  a  free  route  to 
Asia  had  already  led  to  an  unintentional  and  for  a 
time  imconscious  discovery  of  America,  as  the  new 
world  was  afterwards  called.  But  Europe  then  fronted 
not  to  the  Atlantic  but  to  Asia  ;  for  many  years  men 
were  to  seek  the  "backside  of  America"  where  lay 
the  "  Kingdomes  of  Cataya  or  China  "  ;  and  in  the 
closing  years  of  Elizabeth's  reign  the  chartering  of 
the  East  India  Company  marked  the  inauguration  of 
a  policy,  which  though  new  in  form,  was  intimately 
related  with  many  of  the  previous  American  ventures. 
English  merchants  now  asked  for  more  than  uncertain 
piracy  in  the  West ;  they  hoped  to  develop  a  regular 
commercial  intercourse  with  the  East.^ 

»The  instructions  of  the  East  India  Co.  to  Waymouth  in  April,  16(W,  for  bis  Amer- 
ican voyage  in  search  of  a  passage  to  Asia,  contain  the  following  passage  —  "  or  as 
he  shall  fynde  the  Passage  best  to  lye  towards  the  parts  or  Icingedomes  of  Cataya  or 
China  or  ye  baclcside  of  America."  Stevens:  "  Dawn  of  British  Trade  to  the  East 
Indies,"  p.  212. 

88 


Were  all  the  otlier  years  of  Elizabeth's  reign  a 
blank  in  our  history,  the  granting  of  the  charter  for 
the  East  India  Company  would  nevertheless  make 
her  reign  a  landmark  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
For  this  company,  the  greatest  corporation  the  world 
has  ever  seen,  was  destined  to  work  a  change  in  mod- 
em world-politics  to  which  that  resulting  from  the 
establishment  and  development  of  the  United  States 
is  alone  comparable.  Indeed  the  connection  of  these 
imperial  merchants  with  the  creation  of  English  estab- 
lishments in  America  is  in  some  respects  so  close  that 
it  is  surprising  greater  attention  has  not  been  given 
to  it.  Many  whose  names  are  familiar  to  students  of 
our  colonial  period  figure  in  the  early  operations  of 
the  British  in  Asia ;  and  American  ventures  often 
served  to  train  the  men  who  were  to  lay  the  founda- 
tions of  British  Empire  in  the  East.  Among  those 
who  responded  to  this  broadening  of  the  field  of  Brit- 
ish activities  and  thus  transferred  their  interests  from 
America  to  Asia  was  Captain  Pring. 

IV. 

The  exact  year  in  which  Pring  entered  the  East 
India  service  is  unknown.  Possibly  it  was  soon  after 
the  death,  in  1607,  of  his  former  patron,  the  Lord 
Chief  Justice.  The  first  certain  mention  we  find  is 
of  his  appointment  as  master  of  a  large  new  ship,  in 
1614.  It  is  perhaps  doubtful  whether  he  would  have 
got  so  important  a  post  were  that  to  be  his  first  ven- 
ture in  Asiatic  waters  ;  however,  no  mention  of  him 
as  going  to  sea  under  the  auspices  of  any  recognized 

24 


authority  from  1606  to  1614  lias  been  as  yet  discov- 
ered. Pring's  new  ship  was  the  New  Year's  Gift,  of 
550  tons,  "  armed  and  strongly  built  for  trade  or 
war,"  bound  then  to  India  on  her  maiden  voyage. 
She  was  to  act  as  the  flag  of  a  squadron  of  four  ships 
making  in  that  year  the  first  voyage  of  the  newly- 
formed  "  joint  stock."  ^ 

From  1600  to  1612  the  trade  of  the  East  India 
Company  had  been  carried  on  by  a  series  of  so-called 
separate  voyages.  One  or  more  ships  would  be  out- 
fitted as  a  distinct  venture  and  the  accounts  of  each 
fleet  would  be  kept  separate.  Such  an  expedition 
was  theoretically  complete  in  itself  and  on  the  return 
the  profits  of  each  venture  were  divided  among  those 
of  the  Company  who  had  supplied  the  capital.  In 
1612,  however,  a  system  of  joint  stock  subscriptions 
was  proposed  by  which  several  voyages  during  a 
number  of  years  were  made  possible  by  largely 
increased  investments.  The  first  attempt  under  this 
system  resulted  in  a  capitalization  of  £429,000  of 
which  this  first  voyage  of  the  joint  stock  represented 
an  investment  of  £106,000.  Eighteen  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  ten  pounds  in  money  and  £12,446  in 
goods  were  exported ;  and  the  cost  of  ships,  the 
maintenance,  the  supplies  and  the  extraordinary 
expenses  involved  represented  the  remainder.  While 
the  average  profit  for  four  voyages,  1613-1616,  was 

*  This  voyage  is  Bometimes  called  the  second,  and  though  it  did  not  sail  till  1614  is 
technically  the  "  voyage  of  1618."  "  Letters  Received  by  the  E.  I.  Co."  Ill,  pp.  176, 
S26;  Markham:  "Voyages of  Sir  James  Lancaster,"  Hakluyt  Soc.  Publ.,  Vol.  LVI, 
p.  15;  Hunter:  "  Hist.  British  India,"  I,  p.  307;  "  Cal.  of  SUte  Papers,  Colonial  E.  I., 
( 1B13-1616  )"  p.  270.  On  Jan.  17, 1614,  ("Court  Minutes  of  E.  I.  Co."):  "Thirty  great 
ordinance  for  the  New  Year's  Gift."  Pring  condemned  for  not  having  pe^ormed 
his  promise  to  lie  on  board." 

26 


to  "be  87i  per  cent,  on  £429,000,  the  dividends  on  tlie 
voyage  of  1613  were  to  be  120  per  cent,  and  Pring's 
cargo  which  had  cost  £9,000  in  the  East  vsras  to  be 
sold  in  England  for  £80,000.^ 

The  profits  were  great  but  so  also  was  the  risk. 
The  Company,  however,  took  every  possible  precau- 
tion, and  to  make  this  particular  investment  as  sure 
as  might  be  had  placed  in  command  Nicholas  Down- 
ton,  a  tried  man  who  had  served  with  distinction  as 
second  to  Sir  Henry  Middleton  on  the  sixth  separate 
voyage,  in  1610.^  Downton's  instructions  gave  him 
ample  power  for  the  maintenance  of  discipline  ;  and, 
though  he  was  directed  to  seek  no  quarrel  with  Euro- 
pean competitors  on  the  other  side  the  Cape,  he  was 
charged  to  "  suffer  no  spoyle  to  be  made  of  any  goods 
or  merchandize"  committed  to  his  care,  and,  if 
attacked  because  of  the  "  emulation  and  envye  which 
doth  accompanye  the  discouerye  of  Coimtryes  and 
trades,"  to  defend  the  pretensions  and  desires  of  the 
English  as  best  he  might.^ 

Such  language  was  to  the  point ;  for  then,  as  later 
in  the  eighteenth  centxiry,  small  attention  was  paid 
by  Europeans  in  either  Asia  or  America  to  the  dip- 
lomatic agreements  of  the  home  countries.  Peace  in 
Europe  was  often  no  check  to  rivalry  and  bloodshed 
in  foreign  establishments.  As  in  the  West  England 
was  to  struggle  for  commercial  and  political  suprem- 
acy with  Spain  and  France,  she  was  already  the  rival 

» Bruce:  "  Annala,"  I,  pp.  166-7;  Hunter:  op.  cit.,  I,  p.  307. 

»«' Letters  Received  by  the  E.  I.  Co.,"  I,  pp.  166-92,  posaim,  and  pp.  241-61;  "Cal. 
State  Papers,  Col.  E.  I.,  (1513-1616),"  Nos.  629,  668. 
»  Bii^wood  and  Foster:  "  First  Letter  Book,"  pp.  449-62. 

26 


in  the  East  of  Portugal  and  Holland.  In  India  and 
the  Far  East  native  states  and  rulers  were  being 
drawn  into  these  quarrels  ;  and  there  was  likely  to  be 
as  much  of  diplomacy  and  war  as  of  seamanship  and 
trade  in  the  successful  conduct  of  a  voyage  to  Asiatic 
waters.  In  India  the  Mughal  Empire,  no  longer  ruled 
by  an  Akbar,  was  nevertheless  stiU  strong  enough  to 
check  the  pest  of  eager  European  seekers  for  the  spoil 
of  a  peninsula,  richer  in  that  day  than  many  a  conti- 
nent. An  Englishman  must  still  be  a  beggar  for 
permission  to  trade  in  the  domain  of  the  great 
Muhammadan  state,  while  foreign  rivals,  whether  by 
intrigue  or  open  attack,  sought  to  make  the  task 
harder.  The  first  stage  in  the  struggle  for  privilege 
was  to  pass  in  the  second  decade  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  Portugal  was  to  give  way  to  England,  thus 
leaving  for  a  time  the  Dutch  as  sole  rivals  of  power 
to  contest  for  the  trade  of  India  with  the  merchants 
of  London. 

In  1612  Captain  Best  had  made  a  running  fight  of 
near  a  month  against  the  vastly  superior  forces  of  the 
Portuguese,  and  in  that  time  had  broken  in  the  minds 
of  the  natives  "the  reputation  the  Portuguese  had 
won  in  India  by  the  sea  achievements  of  a  hundred 
years."  ^  But  the  issue  was  still  in  doubt ;  a  defeat 
would  lose  the  English  all  they  had  gained  and  they 
well  knew  that  Portugal  would  not  abandon  her  pri- 
macy and  monopoly  without  a  stubborn   fight.      It 

>Hanter:  op.  cit.,  I,  p.  803.  Despatches  describing  this  fight  are  to  be  found  in 
"  Letters  Received  by  the  E.  I.  Co.,"  I,  pp.  233  et  acq.;  II,  p.  166;  Parchas:  I,  pp.  469 
et  aeq.,  482  et  acq. ;  "Cal.  State  Papers,  Col.  £.  I.  (1613-1616),"  Nos.  638, 640.  The  accounts 
in  Low:  "  Indian  Navy,"  I,  pp.  13-14;  Clowes:  "  Royal  Navy,"  II,  pp.  33-S4,  have  been 
corrected  In  Hunter.    Cf.  Bruce:  "  Annals,"  I,  p.  163. 

27 


could,  therefore,  have  been  with  no  surprise  that 
Downton  heard,  soon  after  his  squadron  reached  the 
Swally  roads,  off  Surat,  that  the  Portuguese  viceroy 
at  Goa  was  equipping  a  great  force  against  him.^ 

Surat  was  then  the  headquarters  for  the  English 
trade  in  the  Mughal  Empire ;  but  the  Company's 
hold  on  the  native  governor  was  slight  and  the 
Emperor's  policy  was  itself  uncertain  and  largely 
dependent  on  the  outcome  of  the  immediate  future. 
A  brief  explanation  of  the  exact  situation  will  make 
this  clearer.  The  victory  of  Captain  Best  in  1612 
and  the  favorable  reception  thus  won  by  the  English 
had  grieved  the  Portuguese,  who  in  revenge  had  in 
September,  1613,  taken  a  native  ship  of  Surat,  lately 
come  from  the  Red  Sea,  "  being  richly  laden,  almost 
to  the  value  of  a  himdred  thousand  pounds,  and  car- 
ried her  away,  and  almost  700  persons  in  her  ;  by 
which  means  none  of  them  [the  Portuguese]  dare 
appear  in  those  parts  as  they  were  wont,  insomuch 
that  had  we  [  the  English  ]  shipping  here  now  from 
England  we  should  strike  all  dead,"  because  this  con- 
duct "  hath  made  them  odious "  to  the  natives.^ 
Jahangir,  the  Emperor,  retaliated  by  causing  Daman, 
a  Portuguese  post,  to  be  besieged  by  Mukarrab  Khan, 
the  local  governor,  and  by  giving  "  order  for  the  seiz- 
ing of  all  Portingals  and  their  goods  within  his  king- 

1  Hunter :  ( I,  p.  SOS  n.)  states  tbat  the  journal  of  Prlng's  ship,  the  New  Year's 
Gift,  is  still  preserved  in  the  India  OflBce  "  Marine  Records,"  1606-1701.  For  the 
voyage  to  India  and  the  movements  of  this  ship  (  March,  1614-8pring  of  1616 )  see 
Purchas:  I,  pp.  600  et  seq.,  618,  629;  "  Letters  Received,  etc.,"  Vols.  II,  III  and  IV; 
and  "  Cal.  State  Papers,  Col.  ( 1613-1616 )"  paaaim,  by  index  references  to  the  name. 

*  Aldwortb  to  Marlowe,  Not.  9, 1618, "  Letters  Received,  etc.,"  I,  p.  808.  Cf .  Dan- 
yers:  "  Portuguese  in  India,"  II,  p.  102.    States  the  ship  belonged  to  the  Emperor. 

28 


doms."  Their  cliurclies  were  closed,  and  "Xavier, 
the  great  Jesuit,  whom  before  he  loved,"  was  dis- 
missed ;  and  other  Indian  rulers  were  incited  to 
attack  Portuguese  establishments.  The  English  in 
the  meantime  were  in  great  favor.  But  since  no 
English  ships  came  to  trade,  the  natives  soon  longed 
for  peace  and  doubted  "  whether  it  were  not  wiser  to 
yield  to  the  viceroy's  demands  and  expel  the  Eng- 
lish." Such  was  the  temper  of  the  times  when 
Downton  cast  anchor,  in  October,  1614.  Great  was 
the  joy  of  the  English  agents  ;  and  eager  the  wish  of 
Mukarrab  Khan  to  use  Downton's  force  for  the  war 
against  the  Portuguese.  But  Downton,  mindful  of 
his  instructions,  would  not  agree,  and  the  situation 
became  even  more  difficult.  Finally  the  knot  was 
cut  by  the  attack  of  the  Portuguese ;  and  Downton 
once  fairly  on  the  defence  made  ready  to  fight  for  the 
hope  of  English  leadership  in  western  India.^ 

The  English  squadron  of  four  ships,  with  400 
crew,  carried  80  guns,  but  their  caliber  was  inferior 
to  that  of  the  Portuguese  armaments.  The  viceroy, 
Don  Hierome  de  Azevedo,  had  under  his  command 
the  entire  naval  strength  of  Portuguese  India,  assem- 
bled for  this  struggle,  consisting  of  eight  galleons, 
five  lesser  ships  and  sixty  "  frigates  "  or  rowed  barges 
carrying  thirty  fighting  men  apiece  and  eighteen  oars 
on  a  side.     The  whole  was  manned  by  native  crews 

•"Letters  Received,  etc.,"  U,  pp.  18, 96 etseq.,  104, 180, 187-39, 148  et  seq.,  156,187-172, 
178,185.  The  Jesait,  Xavier,  is  not,  of  course,  Fnncis  Xavier,  ( Cal.  State  Papers, 
E.  I.,  ( 1513-1816 )  No.  768 ),  as  the  editor  of  "  Letters  Received,  etc.,"  ( II,  p.  96  and 
index  at  Xavier )  appears  to  thinlc.  He  was  probably  Jerome  Xavier,  a  nephew  of 
St.  Francis ;  at  least  a  priest  of  that  name  was  for  long  a  favorite  at  the  court  of 
Akbar.    Yule :  "  Cathay  and  the  Way  Thither,"  U,  pp.  SSi,  652. 

29 


to  the  number  of  6,000,  with  2,600  Europeans  free  to 
work  the  134  guns  which  the  fleet  mounted.*  This 
force  began  to  assemble  in  the  end  of  December  and 
by  January  18,  1615,  Downton's  small  fleet  was  well- 
nigh  blockaded  in  the  Tapti  Estuary  ( apparently  in 
what  is  known  to-day  as  Sutherland  Channel.)  The 
odds  were  those  which  would  have  appealed  to  Sir 
Richard  Grenville.  Downton  had  decided  at  the 
council  held  aboard  the  New  Year's  Gift  to  await 
attack  near  the  shallower  waters  of  the  roadstead 
where  the  larger  Portuguese  ships  would  be  at  a  dis- 
advantage ;  but  in  this  he  must  have  acted  contrary 
to  the  bolder  judgment  of  Pring,  who  later  wrote  of 
his  regret  in  having  been  caught  at  Swally,  agreeing 
with  Sir  Thomas  Roe  that  it  would  have  been  better 
to  have  forced  a  passage  to  open  sea  and  there  in  a 
"  more  spacious  place  "  have  beaten  the  Portugalles 
like  a  man.^ 

However  that  may  be,  Downton,  if  not  reckless,  was 
far-sighted  enough  to  realize  the  import  of  the  whole 
matter.     For  he  wrote  in  his  diary  :    "  My  care  is  not 

iPurchas:  I,  pp.  505et  8e9.,619;  "  Cal.  State  Papers,  Col.  E.  I.  1513-1616,"  No.  935; 
"  Letters  Received,  etc.."  II,  p.  137;  Clowes:  "  Royal  Navy,"  II,  p.  35;  Low :  "  Indian 
Navy,"  I,  p.  19,  who  follows  Orme :  "  Oriental  Fragments."  Orme  follows  Purchas  and 
the  account  by  Faria  de  Souza;  by  the  latter  is  apparently  meant  Manuel  Faria  y 
Sousa:  "  Asia  Portugueza,  S  Vols,  1674.  This  work  is  largely  based  on  Barros  and 
Couto:  "Decadas,  etc."  An  English  translation  by  Stevens  was  made  in  1695  of 
Sousa  with  much  omitted.  (  Whiteway :  "  Rise  of  Portuguese  Power  in  India,"  p.  14.) 
Danvers:  "Portuguese  in  India,"  II,  pp.  170-171;  though  no  authorities  are  cited 
Danvers  has  evidently  depended  largely  on  Portuguese  sources,  and  offers  some 
explanation  of  the  discrepancies  found  elsewhere  as  to  numbers.  Two  fleets  united 
in  the  attack  on  Downton,  and  this  is  not  noted  elsewhere.  In  Hunter :  "  Hist,  of 
British  India,"  I,  p.  331,  Low  is  followed,  but  the  statement  of  234  guns  for  the  Portu- 
guese is  obviously  a  misprint.  Unfortunately,  the  Portuguese  authorities  are  not  at 
band  to  enable  me  to  follow  the  statements  further.  The  superiority  of  the  Portu- 
guese fleet  is,  however,  beyond  question.  I  have  taken  the  flgures  given  by  Purchas 
and  modified  them  somewhat  by  other  sources. 

*  Foster :  *■  Sir  Thomas  Roe,"  II,  p.  417  n. 

80 


small,  how  to  do  my  best  in  maintaining  the  Honour 
of  my  Country,  not  negligent  in  the  memory  of  the 
estates  and  charge  of  friends  and  employers  in  this 
journey ;  not  only  for  the  hazard  of  this  at  present 
committed  to  my  charge  but  also  all  hope  of  future 
times,  if  I  should  now  be  overthrown  ;  by  reason  the 
enemy  in  getting  the  upper  hand  of  me  would  make 
his  peace  with  these  people  upon  what  he  lust  to 
the  expelling  my  nation  this  country  forever."  Two 
things,  however,  he  continued,  were  his  comfort  at 
this  juncture  :  "  My  people,  though  much  with  death 
and  sickness  shortened,  all  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest  seems  very  courageous  and  comfortable  and 
ever  as  I  could  be  solitary  I  craved  very  earnestly 
aide  and  assistance  from  the  Lord  of  hosts  and  from 
that  mighty  and  merciful  God  who  hath  manifold 
wayes  formerly  delivered  me,  often  I  say,  desiring 
his  Majesty  so  to  guide  and  direct  me  that  I  might 
omit  nothing  which  might  tend  to  the  safety  of 
my  owne  charge  nor  the  danger  of  the  enemy  and 
that  God  would  grant  my  request  I  had  a  strong 
confidence."^ 

On  January  20  the  fighting  began  and  so  skillful 
were  the  English  captains  in  the  handling  of  their 
vessels  and  so  accurate  was  the  English  gun  fire  that 
the  viceroy  drew  off  with  heavy  losses.  A  blockade 
of  nearly  three  weeks  followed  till  with  reinforce- 
ments the  Portuguese  on  February  8  came  driving 
up  on  the  flood  against  the  English  fleet,  only  to 
make  away  again  as  fast  as  they  might  from  the 

>  PnrctaM:  op.  cit.  I,  p.  606. 

81 


deadly  fire  of  Downton's  guns.  Two  days  later  the 
viceroy  fell  off  in  disgust,  and  on  February  13  the 
Armada  sailed  away  and  soon  was  seen  no  more.  It 
was  a  victory  dearly  bought,  for  many  English  had 
died  of  disease  and  wounds.  On  February  3  Down- 
ton  had  been  compelled  to  write  in  his  diary :  "It 
pleased  God  this  day  at  night  when  I  had  least  leisure 
to  mourn  to  call  to  his  mercy  my  only  son  "  ;  and  not 
many  months  later  a  tropical  fever  set  free  the  Admiral 
to  follow  his  son.^ 

The  death  of  Downton  was  at  Bantam  where  the 
New  Year's  Gift  had  gone  for  spices.  This  was 
Pring's  introduction  to  a  region  he  was  soon  to  know 
better,  but  his  orders  on  this  occasion  required  him 
to  return  to  England.  The  success  of  the  venture 
was  great ;  political,  military  and  commercial  ends 
had  all  been  well  served.  Mughal  dominions  had 
been  saved  from  Portuguese  pilfering  ;  the  sea  power 
of  England  had  been  valiantly  maintained,  and  the 
Company's  profits  were  beyond  the  usual  high 
average.^ 

iPurchai,  I,  pp.  606  et  seq.;  "Letters  received  by  the  E.  I.  Co."  etc.,  II,  pp.  296, 
302,  303;  III,  pp.  15,  22,  23,  26  (Downton  to  Sir  Thomas  Smythe,  Feb.  28,  1614  (1615)  ). 
He  makes  criticisms  on  his  command,  saying  they  had  not  known  what  to  do.  "  I 
acknowledge  your  care  in  preparing  ordnance,  powder  and  shot,  but  no  way  like 
your  choice  of  people  to  use  them,"  pp.  44,  48  et  seq.  55,  71,  170,  300.  Low:  "  Indian 
Navy,"  I,  pp.  20-23,  quoting  largely  from  Orme:  "Oriental  Fragments,"  pp.  346-56. 
Hunter:  "  Hist,  of  British  India,"  I,  pp.  323  et  seq.  Clowes :  "  Royal  Navy,"  II,  p.  36. 
For  Jahangir's  pleasure  at  the  defeat  of  the  Portuguese  of.  "  Waki'  at-i  Jahangiri " 
in  Elliot :  "  Hist,  of  India,"  VI,  p.  340. 

»"  Cal.  State  Papers  E.  I.  (  1513-1616 )  "  Nos.  1011, 1022, 1055,  1091, 1124, 1127, 1130, 1187. 
"  Letters  received,  etc.,"  Ill,  pp.  95, 149, 170, 173  ( it  had  at  first  been  the  intention  of 
the  Company  to  detach  the  New  Year's  Gift  and  send  her  to  Japan  in  1615),  174. 
The  voyage  home  from  BanUm  to  England  (Dec.  21,  1615— July,  1616)  may  be 
traced  in  the  following  despatches:  pp.  180,  210,  230,  232,  257,  259,  261,  266,  268,  272, 
294,  295,  297,  300,  316,  317,  337,  and  "Cal.  State  Papers"  as  above.  No.  1130.  Bruce: 
"  Annals,"  I,  pp.  171-74.  Details  as  to  the  movements  of  the  Gift  and  her  lading  are 
also  to  be  found  in  "  Letters  received,  etc.,"  IV,  pp.  26,  29,  30,  34,  66,  121,  278,  291 
et  seq.  Markham :  "  Voyages  of  Sir  James  Lancaster,"  p.  266.  Cf .  also  pp.  296 
et  seq. 

82 


V. 


That  Pring  had  served  with  credit  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Company  may  be  judged  by  his  appointment  in 
1617  to  the  government  of  a  new  squadron  which  was 
to  make  the  fifth  voyage  for  the  joint  stock.  Here  he 
had  the  James  Royal  of  a  thousand  tons  as  his  flag- 
ship. Besides  were  two  ships  nearly  as  large  and 
two  others  smaller.  These  five  set  sail  from  the 
Downs  the  first  of  March,  1617.  The  outward  voyage 
was  attended  with  some  peril,  as  off  the  Arabian  coast 
the  James  sprang  a  leak  which  was  with  difficulty 
stopped.  While  the  flagship  was  thus  disabled  the 
other  vessels  were  nevertheless  able  to  capture  a 
Portuguese  ship  from  Mozambique  laden  with  "  ele- 
phants' teeth,"  as  ivory  was  then  called.  Moreover, 
what  was  important,  they  took  two  English  ships, 
interlopers  in  these  waters,  who  had  had  in  chase  a 
native  craft  belonging  to  the  Emperor's  mother.  It 
soon  appeared  that  these  two  English  vessels  had 
been  outfitted  to  prey  on  Spanish  shipping.  This 
had  been  at  the  orders  of  Lord  Robert  Rich,  soon  to 
be  the  Earl  of  Warwick.  He  had  been  importuned 
to  this  end  by  his  friend.  Count  Scarnafissi,  ambassa- 
dor in  London  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy  who  was  at  the 
time  at  war  with  the  King  of  Spain.  These  ships 
were  then  privateers  flying  a  neutral  flag  ;  moreover, 
what  was  far  worse — they  were  within  the  Company's 
monopoly.  They  had  further  imperiled  the  Com- 
pany's interests  by  their  thoughtless  greed  in  attack- 
ing a  merchant  vessel  belonging  to  the  imperial  court. 


They  were,  therefore,  promptly  confiscated  by  Pring's 
orders/ 

The  consequences  of  this  act,  though  for  the  most 
part  beyond  the  scope  of  this  paper,  may  serve  to 
illustrate  the  more  or  less  close  connection  which  at 
this  time  existed  between  the  East  India  and  Virginia 
Companies.  In  London  was  Sir  Thomas  Smythe, 
merchant  and  man  of  affairs.  Governor  of  the  East 
India  Company  and  likewise  Treasurer  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Company.  His  young  son  had  recently,  against 
the  will  of  the  father,  been  married  to  Lady  Isabella 
Rich,  a  sister  to  Lord  Robert  Rich,  the  owner  of  at 
least  one  of  the  captured  vessels.  Bad  feeling 
between  the  two  families  had  thus  been  bred.  The 
news  from  India  was  not  calculated  to  make  either 
Sir  Thomas  Smythe  or  Lord  Robert  Rich  more 
friendly ;  for  when  Lord  Robert  made  urgent  com- 
plaint to  the  Governor  of  the  Company  concerning 
the    capture  of    his    ship    by   Captain    Pring,   the 

t  •<  Letters  received  by  the  E.  I.  Co.,"  Ill,  p.  326.  Pring's  journal  of  the  yoyaf^e  is 
in  Purcbas:  op.  cit.,  I,  pp.  618,  631  et  seq.  Cf.  also  his  letter  to  the  Company  from 
Swally  Roads,  Nov.  12, 1617,  in  "  Letters  received,  etc.,"  VI,  pp.  171-8,  in  which  one 
of  the  interloping  ships  is  stated  to  have  been  owned  by  Philip  Bamadi,  an  Italian 
merchant  of  London.  Pring  comments  on  the  capture  ( p.  174 ) :  "I  praise  God  with 
all  my  heart  that  we  lighted  so  on  them,  for  if  they  had  taken  the  junk  and  known 
to  be  English  ( which  could  not  long  have  been  concealed  )  all  your  goods  in  this 
country  could  not  have  made  satisfaction  according  to  their  desire  ( and  that  Is 
commonly  their  law  in  these  cases )."  In  a  letter  from  Kerridge  and  Rastel,  factors 
at  Surat,  to  the  Company,  (  Ibid,  pp.  168, 164  )  much  the  same  is  said,  though  one 
ship  is  said  to  have  been  owned  in  the  name  of  the  Duke  of  Florence.  Still  another 
account  is  by  Edward  Monnox,  wbo  came  out  as  factor  in  Pring's  fleet,  pp.  269 
et  seq.  For  further  references  to  Pring's  voyage  and  his  activities  off  Surat  see  pp. 
96, 107,  112, 114, 120, 122, 129,  137, 146, 149, 151 ,  156, 163, 166,  177,  215,  218,  278.  The  voyage 
and  the  above  events  may  also  be  followed,  though  in  less  satisfactory  fashion,  in 
the  "  Cal.  of  State  Papers,  Col.,  E.  I.  ( 1617-1621 )."  Here  care  should  be  taken  not  to 
confuse  the  operations  of  the  James  under  Capt.  Childs  and  the  James  Royal  under 
Capt.  Pring;  the  index  is  not  always  clear.  The  references  to  Pring  in  the  index 
are  correct;  of  these  the  more  important  are  to  be  found  in  Nos.  164, 162, 186,187, 
193,  302.  Sir  Thomas  Roe  wrote  of  the  capture  of  the  English  rovers,  "  if  shee  ( the 
Queen  Mother's  ship )  had  bin  taken,  we  had  all  bin  in  trouble."  Foster:  "  Roe," 
II,  pp.  420  n.,  421,  480. 

34 


Company,  determined  both  by  its  own  interests  and  by 
the  wishes  of  the  Governor,  supported  Pring's  action 
against  those  two  marauding  rovers  and  refused  to 
grant  the  damages  demanded.  So  hot  did  the  action 
become  that  Lord  Robert  brought  the  case  before  the 
Privy  Council  and  to  the  King's  attention ;  and  in 
the  end  the  whole  matter  was  referred  to  arbitration. 
In  the  meantime,  however,  by  way  of  personal  revenge. 
Lord  Robert,  who  was  himself  a  man  of  influence  in 
colonial  affairs,  set  to  work  to  oust  Sir  Thomas  Smythe 
and  his  friends  from  control  of  the  funds  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Company.  At  the  next  meeting  of  that  Com- 
pany in  April,  1619,  the  party  of  Lord  Robert  all  gave 
their  votes  to  an  independent  and  victorious  candi- 
date, one  Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  that  he  might  be  Treas- 
urer of  the  Virginia  Company  in  succession  to  the 
candidate  set  up  by  Sir  Thomas  Smythe,  who  himself 
had  not  wished  to  continue  in  ofl&ce.  The  result, 
however,  was  much  to  the  astonishment  of  all.  In 
this  fashion  was  Sir  Edwin  Sandys  given  office  in 
the  management  of  the  colony  of  Virginia,  to  what 
results  for  the  benefit  of  the  colony  and  for  the 
directing  of  its  future  history  I  leave  the  readers  of 
Virginia  records  to  recall.^ 


>  "  CM.  Stete  F&para,  Col.  B.  I.  ( 1617-21 )  "  Nos.  193,  230,  287,  302,  467,  632,  667,  667,  691, 
004,  666,  772,  774.  778,  781,  783,  801,  81U,  823,  826,  829,  and  many  others  to  be  found  noted 
in  the  Index.    Cf .  alto  pp.  LXXVILXXX. 

"Historical  HSS.  Commission,  Fourth  Report,  Lords'  Papers,"  p.  19.  Gardiner: 
••  Hist,  of  England,"  III,  p.  216.  "  Cal.  8Ute  Papers,  Dom.  ( 1619 1623 ),"  Nos.  2,  67. 
"Cal.  SUte  Papers,  Col.  (1674-1660)"  Nos.  44,  61.  Brown:  "Genesis  of  United 
States."  II,  pp.  980,  1014.  "Diet.  Nat.  Biog.,"  see  "Rich"  and  "Smythe."  Cf. 
"Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  4th  Series,  III,  pp.  36, 37.  The  full  bearing  of  the  election 
is  not  recognized  in  Neill:  "Virginia  Company,"  pp.  143-46, 151.  Foster:  "Roe,"  II, 
pp.  240  n.,  and  "  Letters  received  by  E.  I.  Co.,"  VI,  p.  XXIX,  contain  brief  sum- 
maries with  some  of  the  above  references. 

86 


On  turning  once  more  to  Pring's  career  in  the  east, 
one  of  the  most  significant  episodes  in  his  biography 
is  to  be  found  in  his  relationship  to  Sir  Thomas  Roe, 
British  ambassador  to  the  Mughal  Emperor,  Jahangir. 
Roe  was  the  first  British  diplomat  sent  east  by  the  Cape 
and  won  for  himself  great  fame  by  able  conduct  in  a 
post  of  extreme  difl&culty.  He  gave  Pring,  an  old 
friend,  warm  welcome  when  the  James  Royal  arrived 
off  the  Indian  coast  early  in  the  autumn  of  1617  ;  and 
his  testimony  to  Pring's  worth  is  full  the  equal  of  that 
given  by  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges.  I  quote  from  Roe's 
letter  of  welcome  to  Pring,  written  October  5,  1617  : 
"  Honest  Man,  God,  that  Knowes  my  hart,  wittnesse 
you  are  the  welcomest  man  to  this  Country  that  Could 
here  arriue  to  assist  my  many  troubles."^  Four 
months  later  to  the  Company  in  London  he  also  wrote 
that  Pring  "  now  by  his  great  Modesty  and  discretion 
hath  both  reformed  many  abuses,  gayned  you  much 
good  will,  himself e  all  mens  loue  and  his  owne  Cred- 
itt.  An  honester  man  I  suppose  you  cannot  send, 
and  that  his  Actions  will  approue  :  one  that  Studies 
your  endes,  is  ready  to  ioyne  with  any,  without  insist- 
ing vpon  disputes  and  tearmes."^  To  another  he 
wrote :  "  Captain  Pring  is  every  way  sufficient  and 
discreet."^  The  quotations  might  be  further  con- 
tinued. 

Together  Roe  and  Pring  concerted   measures  for 
the  final  ousting  of  the  Portuguese,  for  the  extension 

» Foster:  "  Roe,"  II,  p.  421. 

*  Ibid,  II,  p.  468. 

*  "  Letters  received,  etc.,"  VI,  p.  120.    Cf .  also  pp.  136,  and  161  et  $eq. 

36 


of  British  influence  and  trade  in  tlie  Red  Sea,  the  Per- 
sian Gulf  and  Persia,  and  for  keener  competition  with 
the  Dutch.  Against  the  latter  Roe  frankly  advocated 
a  piratical  policy  in  order  thereby  to  give  the  English 
a  monopoly  in  Asiatic  waters/  Yet  in  the  midst  of 
this  planning  we  find  at  times  the  burden  of  a  lonely 
responsibility  weighing  heavily  on  a  mind  perplexed 
by  oriental  duplicity.  Thus  passages  such  as  the 
following  to  Pring  are  frequent  in  Roe's  letters : 
"  Wee  liue  in  a  Barbarous  unfaythfull  place  ;  you  in 
the  sea  with  more  securitie  and  Constancye.  Pray 
for  Vs,  that  God  wilbe  Pleased  to  keepe  vs,  that 
among  heathens  wee  may  bee  as  light  in  darknes ; 
at  least  that  wee  shame  not  the  light.  "^  And  again 
in  a  farewell  letter  :  "I  am  reddy  to  breake  for  want 

of  an  honnest  free  conference God  in 

heaven  blesse  you  and  send  me  once  among  men,  for 
these  are  monsters."^  It  was  the  weight  of  an  impe- 
rial burden  still  unrealized  that  lay  heavy  on  unaccus- 
tomed shoidders. 

On  his  departure  from  India  Pring  sailed  for 
Jacatra  on  the  island  of  Java  and  off  Bantam  joined 
his  fleet  to  that  of  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  also  of  Virginia 
fame.  During  the  autumn  Pring  endeavored  to  secure 
a  favorable  treaty  from  the  king  of  Jacatra,  but  was 
not  successful  till  early  in  January  when  the  Dutch 
were  no  longer  such  powerful  rivals.*     This  was  due 

> "  Letters  received,  etc.,"  VI,  pp.  108, 112, 129, 151,  et  seq.  "  Cal.  SUte  Papers,  Col. 
B.  I.  (  1617-21  )  "  Nob.  166, 156,  298.  Foster:  '•  Roe,"  I,  pp.  128,  421,  429,  434;  II,  pp.  407 
et  teq.,  418, 466,  et  $eq.,  470. 

*  Foster :  "  Roe,"  II,  p.  400.    Roe  offers  to  assist  Pring  with  the  Company. 

*  Ibid,  II,  p.  602. 

« ••  Cal.  SUte  Papers,  Col.  E.  I.  (  1617-21 )  "  Not.  24B,  428,  «24,  444,  447,  477. 

87 


449126 


to  tte  attack  made  on  tlie  Dutch  by  both  fleets  under 
Dale  on  December  23,  1618,  in  Jacatra  Bay.  It  was 
a  desperate  engagement  and  much  disputed,  both 
sides  claiming  the  victory ;  the  Dutch,  however, 
sailed  away.  Pring  wrote  home  that  the  fight  "  con- 
tinued about  three  hours,  in  which  time  the  English 
shot  above  1200  great  shot  from  six  ships.  Chased 
the  Dutch  the  next  day  through  the  Bay  of  Jacatra 
insight  of  their  castle."  Dale  wrote  home  that  it  had 
been  "  *  a  cruel  bloody  fight ' ;  3000  great  shot  fired  ; 
many  men  maimed  and  slain  on  both  sides,  but  the 
Dutch  had  four  times  as  many  slain  and  maimed  as 
the  English  ;  three  of  the  Dutch  ships  reported  to  be 
sunk  ;  knows  not  how  true  it  is,  but  is  sure  they  were 
soundly  banged."^ 

This  fight  was  one  of  a  long  series  of  bloody  strug- 
gles between  Dutch  and  English  for  the  spice  trade 
of  Malaya.  After  cruising  from  January  to  March 
and  suffering  severely  by  disease  and  damage  of  the 
shipping,  both  fleets  met  again  at  Masulipatam.  There 
reports  reached  them  that  the  Dutch  were  once  more 
at  work  and  threatening  to  drive  the  English  out  of 
the  islands;  and  there  on  August  9  Sir  Thomas  Dale 
died,  leaving  Pring  in  supreme  command.  A  short  time 
afterwards  the  factor  at  Masulipatam  wrote  home  that 
he  could  not  "  sufficiently  commend  the  present  com- 
mander. Captain  Pring."     The  condition  of  the  fleet, 

> "  Cal.  State  Papers,  Col.  ( 1617-21 ) "  Nos.  601,  609  ( Dale's  Account ),  643  ( Pring's 
account ),  742.  Professor  Laughton  In  "  Diet.  Nat.  Biog.,"  Art. «'  Pring,"  says  Pring 
did  not  take  part  in  this  fight:  but  the  language  in  Nos.  508  and  624  would  seem  to 
make  it  probable  that,  though  the  James  Royal  was  detained  at  Bantam  by  a  leak, 
Pring,  possibly  on  board  the  Unicorn,  was  present  at  the  engagement.  As  late  as 
February  1619  Pring  bad  not  taken  the  James  to  sea  and  was  cruising  in  the  Unicom 
off  the  Straits  of  Sunda  looking  for  the  Dutch. 

38 


however,  was  such  as  to  persuade  Pring  to  avoid  the 
Dutch  and  during  the  autumn  of  1619  and  early  win- 
ter of  1620  English  interests  suffered  much  loss. 
Such  being  the  case,  the  news  of  a  peace  made  at 
home  with  the  Dutch  in  the  year  previous  was  wel- 
comed by  Pring  in  March,  1620.  Indeed  he  had 
already  informed  the  Company  that  he  favored  a 
union  of  the  English  and  Dutch  to  overthrow  both 
Spain  and  Portugal,  thereby  securing  a  joint  monop- 
oly of  tropical  trade.  The  allies  could  then  buy  all 
commodities  in  the  East  and  seU  them  in  Europe  at 
such  prices  as  they  pleased.  Whereby,  as  he  wrote, 
they  might  expect  "  both  wealth  and  honor,  the  two 
main  piUars  of  earthly  happiness."^ 

At  news  of  the  peace  Pring,  now  recognized  as 
General  in  command  of  the  East  Indian  fleets,  entered 
into  friendly  relations  with  the  Dutch  commander. 
General  Coen ;  "and  there  [perhaps  Bantam]  they 
feasted  each  other  that  day  [March  13  (23)  1620]  ; 
then  all  the  prisoners  of  each  side  were  set  at  liberty, 
and  taken  again  aboard  their  own  ships. "^  Thus 
assured  of  the  safety  of  English  interests  in  India 
and  the  spice  islands,  Pring  then  ventured  further 
east  and  made  the  voyage  to  Japan.  On  his  arrival 
at  Firando  he  was  made  welcome  by  the  Company's 
agent,  Richard  Cocks.  The  news  of  peace  with  the 
Dutch  was  joyfully  received  ;   and  Pring,  looking  to 

» *'  C»l.  state  Papers,  Col.  E.  I.  ( 1617-21 )"  Nob.  638,  662,  602,  607, 643,670  ( cruising  for 
the  Dutch  ) ;  747,  769,  776,  782,  787  (  at  Masulipatam  ) ;  802,  844,  948  ( the  Dutch  ).  Cf. 
"Diet.  Nat.  Biog.,  locus"  Prlog.  Clowes:  op.  cit.,  II,  p.  39;  several  inaccuracies 
are  to  be  noted  here. 

« Op.  clt.,  No.  934. 

89 


the  future,  was  led  to  believe  that  if  the  China  trade 
could  be  drawn  to  Japan  it  "  would  prove  the  best 
factory  in  the  world."*  William  Adams,  the  first 
Anglo-Japanese  merchant,  had  died  in  the  May  prior 
to  the  arrival  of  the  James  Royal,  which  was  on  July 
23,  1620 ;  but  with  Cocks,  who  had  been  in  the  coun- 
try now  ten  years,  a  five  months'  stay  was  made  in 
which  the  ships  were  repaired.^  Indeed,  Pring  and 
Cocks  appear  to  have  enjoyed  the  visit ;  for  in  his  diary 
Cocks  speaks  of  several  dinners  in  company  with  the 
captains  of  the  squadron.  On  the  occasion  of  the 
sailing  of  the  James  Royal,  Cocks  noted,  December 
12,  1620  :  "  We  supped  all  at  Duch  howse,  both  Capt. 
Pring,  Capt.  Adames,  and  all  the  masters  of  the 
shipps  and  merchants  ashore,  where  we  had  great  e 
cheare  and  no  skarsety  of  wyne,  with  many  guns 
shott  affe  for  healthes  all  the  night  long."^  Finally, 
with  rich  cargo  on  board,  Pring  started  on  the  long 
voyage  home,  being  at  last  signaled  in  the  Downs  on 
the  morning  of  September  19,  1621,  nine  months  and 
two  days  out  from  Cochie  Road  off  Firando.'* 

The  temper  of  the  Company  had  been  sorely  tried 
since  Pring  had  started  for  Japan  ;  the  Dutch  had 
not  kept  the  treaty  ;    and  events  were  preparing  for 

»  Op.  Cit.,  No.  1133. 

«  Op.  cit.  No9.  844,  878,  883  ( Pring  declined  to  command  a  fleet  bound  for  Manila ), 
910,  929,  930.  Cf.  for  the  voyage  of  the  James  Royal  Purchas:  op.  cit.,  I,  pp.  629  et 
seq.;  Rundall:  "Memorials  of  Japan,"  p. 87.  Cocks  to  the  £.  I.  Co.  Dec.  131620: 
"  The  coppie  of  his  [  Adams  ]  will  with  another  of  his  inventory  (  or  account  of  taia 
estate )  I  send  to  his  wife  and  daughter,  per  Captain  Martin  Pring,  their  good 
friend,  well  knowne  to  them  long  tyme  past."    Cf.  Cocks:  "  Diary,"  II,  p.  321. 

3  Cocks :  "  Diary,"  II,  p.  116. 

« Cocks:  "  Diary,"  II,  pp.  64, 112-J16, 318, 322.  "  Cal.  State  Papers  Col.  E.  I.  ( 1617- 
21 )  "  No.  1100. 

40 


that  terrible  massacre  of  the  English  at  Amboyna  in 
1623,  which  was  to  drive  them  from  the  spice  islands 
for  so  many  years.  Signs  of  all  this  are  to  be  seen 
in  the  fault  the  Company  now  found  with  Pring  for 
not  having  opposed  the  Dutch  more  vigorously  after 
the  death  of  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  for  having  been 
friendly  with  the  Dutch  after  the  signature  of  peace, 
for  having  taken  the  James  Royal  to  Japan  for  full 
repairs  when  the  interests  of  the  Company  were  still 
in  jeopardy,  and  above  all  for  having  indulged  in 
private  trade  to  his  own  profit.  This  last  charge 
might  well  be  true,  for  it  was  a  common  thing  among 
the  captains  and  factors  in  the  service,  though  much 
disliked  by  the  Company.  Matters  indeed  came  to 
such  a  pass  that  Pring  was  near  brought  before  the 
Privy  Council  to  answer  charges  brought  against  him 
by  the  Company's  Court.  Eventually,  however,  Pring 
was  able  to  clear  himself  from  several  charges  and 
the  matter  was  dropped.  But  he  had  to  wait  a  good 
part  of  a  year  for  his  wages,  and  when  he  finally  quit 
the  service  in  August,  1623,  the  customary  gratifica- 
tion of  money  from  the  Company  was  withheld.  The 
general  opinion  seems  to  have  been  that  Pring  was  a 
better  navigator  than  merchant.  Yet  in  no  instance 
did  he  fail  to  secure  the  approval  of  men  who  watched 
him  in  the  active  performance  of  his  duty.  The  ideal 
commander  in  the  eyes  of  the  Company  must  be 
**  partly  a  navigator,  partly  a  merchant,  with  knowl- 
edge to  lade  a  ship,  and  partly  a  man  of  fashion  and 
good  respect."  While  Pring  may  not  have  risen  to 
that  condition,  he  was  by  all  other  accoimts  a  man  of 

41 


service  to  the  corporation.  His  misfortune  was  to 
have  returned  home  an  avowed  supporter  of  a  Dutch 
alliance,  now  unpopular,  and  too  honest  and  indepen- 
dent to  deny  that  he  had  indulged,  as  had  others,  in 
private  trade.^ 


VI. 


After  nearly  a  decade  of  adventuring  to  the  east 
the  closing  years  of  Pring's  life  show  significantly  a 
return  to  western  interests.  Indeed  it  is  possible 
that  after  his  return  in  1623  to  his  home  port  of  Bris- 
tol, he  once  more  assumed  a  voyage  to  Virginia.  He 
had  been  elected  a  member  of  the  Company  of  Mer- 
chant Adventurers  of  Bristol,  the  organization  that 
had  supported  his  maiden  venture  in  1603 ;  and 
there  is  one  bit  of  evidence  which  would  point  to 
his  having  sailed  to  America  again  in  1626.  For  in 
that  year  one  Miles  Prickett,  a  baker  of  Holy  Cross 
Parish,  outside  of  Canterbury,  made  his  will  and 
declared  therein  that,  "  Whereas  there  is  or  will  be 
certain  money  due  me  in  consideration  of  my  adven- 
turing into  Virginia  under  the  Worshipful  Captain 
Pryn  [  Pring  ],  his  charge,  which  goods,  if  they  shall 
prosper  well  in  the  said  voyage  I  freely  dispose  of 
the  benefit  that  shall  be  due  to  me  unto  my  brother."^ 

i"C»l.  of  State  Papers,  E.  I.  (1613-1616)," No.  700  (the  Ideal  captain).  Ibid 
( 1617-22  ),  No«.  979,  982,  1110,  1130,  1133,  1134,  1136,  1138,  1145,  1161,  1171;  Ibid  (1622- 
24  ),  Nob.  98, 103, 332 ;  p.  92.    Cf .  "  Pring  "  In  ••  Diet.  Nat.  Biog." 

»  New  Eng.  Hist.  Gen.  Reg.,"  XL,  p.  62.    Brown :  "  Genesis  of  the  U.  S.,"  II,  p.  97i. 

42 


But  whatever  hesitancy  may  be  felt  in  asserting  a 
third  American  voyage  by  Captain  Pring,  the 
evidence  of  his  continuing  interest  in  American  affairs 
is  derived  from  other  and  less  doubtful  sources  and 
may  perhaps  add  to  the  probability  of  the  third 
voyage.  It  appears  that  in  1621,  while  on  the  home- 
ward voyage  from  Japan  in  the  James  Royal,  the 
ship's  chaplain,  the  Reverend  Patrick  Copland,  had 
gathered  from  the  "  gentlemen  and  mariners "  on 
board  the  sum  of  £70  8s  6d  towards  the  building  of 
a  free  school  in  Virginia.  The  largest  single  amount 
subscribed  was  £6  13s  4d  by  Pring  himself  and  "  so 
decreasing  to  one  shilling."  This  Mr.  Copland  had 
attended  Sir  Thomas  Dale  at  his  death-bed  in  Masuli-  ^ 
patam,  August,  1619,  and  had  on  that  occasion  prob- 
ably heard  much  of  Virginia's  needs  from  the  lips  of 
her  former  governor,  then  dying  in  the  eastern  trop- 
ics. At  least  talk  of  America  and  inquiries  concern- 
ing Virginia  were  frequent  on  Dale's  lips.  The 
possibility  that  this  plan  and  this  subscription  were 
in  part  the  results  of  these  talks  is  calculated  to  give 
pause  when  we  consider  the  character  and  labors  of 
Dale  in  Virginia.  Whether  the  suggestion  came  from 
him  or  no,  it  found  hearty  furtherance  from  Pring. 
Copland  also  found  on  landing  in  England  others 
ready  to  take  up  the  matter ;  by  several  anonymous 
gifts  the  fund  was  by  1622  increased  to  £192  Is  lOd  ; 
and  the  total  was  given  to  the  Earl  of  Southampton 
for  what  the  Council  of  the  Virginia  Company  was 
pleased  to  call  the  East  India  School.  A  thousand 
acres  of  land  also  were  voted  by  the  Company  to  the 

48 


r-' 


school,  which  was  to  be  situate  at  Charles  City.* 
The  Virginia  Company  thus  declared  itself  to  be  heart- 
ily in  sympathy  with  the  proposal  and  voted  that 
"  ciuility  of  life  and  humane  leaminge  seemed  to  carry 
with  it  the  greatest  weight  and  highest  consequence 
unto  the  plantacons  as  that  whereof  both  Church  and 
Common  wealth  take  their  original!  foundacion  and 
happie  estate."^ 

Carpenters  were  sent  out  to  build  the  school  and 
two  teachers  were  successively  engaged  to  conduct  its 
affairs.  Difficulties  supervened,  however,  and  no 
further  record  of  the  establishment  is  to  be  found. 
But  the  gratitude  of  the  Company  found  special 
expression  in  the  Quarter  Court  of  July  3, 1622,  when 
it  was  thought  fit  to  make  Captain  Pring  a  freeman 
of  the  Company  and  to  give  him  two  shares  of  land 
in  Virginia.  This,  as  the  record  reads  :  "in  reguard 
of  the  large  contribucon  w''*'  the  gentlemen  and  mari- 
ners of  that  shippe  [  James  Royal  ]  had  given  toward 
good  works  in  Virginia  whereof  he  was  an  especiall 
furtherer."^  Thus  it  was  that  Pring  became  both 
a  landowner  and  a  supporter  of  an  infant  educational 
system  in  America.  He  might,  therefore,  have  gone  to 
Virginia  in  1626  in  the  interest  of  both  his  personal 

*  Brown:  op.  ctt.,  II,  pp.  972-a.  On  Copland's  career  to  1623  see  "  Cal.  State  Papers 
Col.  E.  I.  ( 1617-21 ),"  No8.  270,  289,  302,  654,  979, 1125.  In  1617  the  sailors  had  raised  on 
the  James  Royal  a  sum  of  money  for  a  gallery  in  St.  John's  Chapel,  Wapping,  of 
which  Master  Rowland  Coitmore,  formerly  of  the  James,  became  warden  in  1622. 
Brown:  op.  cit.,  II,  p.  866.  In  1624  the  E.  I.  Company,  profiting  by  such  example, 
voted  in  the  future  to  take  up  subscriptions  on  their  vessels  for  "those  hurt  or 

maimed  in  the  Company's  service which  they  think  will  be  more  proper, 

than  for  erecting  a  school  In  Virginia."  "Cal.  State  Papers  Col.  E.  I.  ( 1622-24 ) "  No. 
710.    Neill :  "  Virginia  Company,"  pp.  251  et  seq. 

«Nelll:  op.  cit,,  p.  254. 

*NeUI:  op.  cit.,  p.  314. 

44 


gift  and  Ms  real  estate.  However  that  may  be, 
hie  must,  nevertheless,  have  died  soon  after  his  return 
to  England,  for  Prickett's  will  was  dated  November 
30,  1626,  and  by  the  record  on  the  monnment  in  St. 
Stephen's  Church  at  Bristol,  Pring  died  in  that  year 
at  the  age  of  forty-six.  This  monument,  restored  in 
1733,  is  inscribed  :  "  To  the  Pious  Memorie  of  Martin 
Pringe,  Merchaunt,  Sometyme  Generall  to  the  East 
Indies,  and  one  of  ye  Fraternity  of  the  Trinity  House." 
It  bears  the  arms  of  the  Merchant  Adventurers  of 
Bristol,  at  whose  expense  it  was  probably  erected ; 
the  monument  is  on  the  north  wall  of  one  of  the 
chancel  aisles,  and  is  of  sufficient  size  to  attract  the 
attention  at  once.^ 

I  hope  that  as  you  have  patiently  followed  my 
attempt  to  tell  you  of  the  life  of  Martin  Pring  you 
will  have  seen  how  historic  is  his  biography,  how 
typical  is  his  career  of  the  epochal  changes  which 
took  place  in  England  during  his  lifetime,  and  with 
what  close  and  at  times  curious  connection  are  bound 
the  efforts  of  those  who  were  enlarging  the  power  and 
interests  of  the  English  nation  both  in  America  and 
in  Asia.^  The  place  and  time  of  his  birth  as  well  as 
other  circumstances  recall  the  close  of  the  Elizabethan 

>  A  description  of  tbe  monument  is  in  "  Hag.  Am.  Hist.,"  IX,  p.  211.  Cf .  Brown : 
op.  cit.  II,  p.  974.  "Diet.  Nat.  Biog."  locus  Pring.  Pring:  "Captaine  Martin 
Pringe,"  contains  a  plate  of  the  monument  with  a  transcription  of  the  inscription 
and  epitaph.  For  further  information  on  the  interesting  career  and  personality  of 
the  Reverend  Patrick  Copland  (or  Copeland)  cf.  Neill:  "Virginia  Company,"  pp. 
251  n.,  374,  377,  and  "  Virginia  Carolorum,"  pp.  31, 195-197.  See  also  Clews:  "  Educa- 
tional Legislation  and  Administration  of  the  Colonial  Governments,"  pp.  351-354. 

'Aside  from  the  interest  which  naturally  associated  such  men  as  John  Davis,  Sir 
Thomas  Smytbe,  George  Waymouth,  and  many  others  in  the  expansion  of  England 
In  two  hemispheres,  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  William  Baffin  sailed  as  master's  mate 
in  the  Ann  Royal  of  Pring's  fleet  in  1617.  Cf .  Markham :  "  Sir  James  Lancaster,"  p. 
267. 

46 


age,  that  period  when  men  with  "  happy  heart  and  a 
bias  toward  theism  "  followed  "  asceticism,  duty  and 
magnanimity,"  that  time  when  statesmen  wrote  son- 
nets and  sailors  enacted  plays,  when  a  Grenville  had 
a  Raleigh  for  his  historian,  when 

"  Drake  went  down  to  the  Horn 

And  England  was  crowned  thereby  — " 

in  short  that  time  when  Englishmen  made  discovery 
of  mankind,  of  new  lands  and  seas  and  of  themselves. 
Moreover,  Pring's  character  and  work,  as  well  as 
the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  men  such  as 
Richard  Hakluyt,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  and  Sir  Fer- 
dinando  Gorges,  in  the  Occident,  and  by  Sir  Thomas 
Roe  in  the  Orient,  entitle  him  on  the  personal  side 
still  further  to  our  consideration.  He  was  an  English 
seaman,  pointing  the  way  to  England's  glory  and 
power,  a  forerunner  of  Anglo-Saxon  empire  in  two 
hemispheres,  an  explorer,  a  fighter,  a  trader,  a  diplo- 
mat, and  a  patron  of  education,  yet  withal  a  man  of 
piety,  perseverance  and  modesty.  In  the  quaint 
language  of  his  epitaph : 

"  Hit  painfal,  skillfull  travayles  reacht  as  farre 

As  from  the  Artick  to  th'  Antartick  starre 

Hee  made  himself  A  Shippe,  Religion 

His  only  compass  and  the  truth  alone 

His  guiding  Cynosure  ;  Faith  was  his  sailes, 

His  Anchour  hope,  a  hope  that  never  failes 

His  freight  was  charitie  and  his  returne 

A  fruitfuU  practise.     In  this  fatal  urne 

His  shipp's  fayre  Bulck  is  lodg'd  but  ye  ritch  ladinge 

Is  housed  in  heaven,  a  haven  never  fadinge 

Hie  terris  multum  jactatus  et  undis.'' 
46 


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